An Irreconcilable Difference
by friendofkara
Summary: Another AU take on Cat's ultimatum at the end of "Hostile Takeover." This time Kara remembers a promise as well as some moral obligations and she takes action to avoid an ongoing danger. I don't own the characters.
1. An Enraging Ultimatum

Kara Danvers thanked Rao for the self-control she had built up over the years: first, under her mother's demanding enforcement of the rigorous self-discipline that was so essential for the children of Krypton's great Houses, then, learning to keep her powers hidden during the first twelve years of her earthly exile and finally, learning to control her emotions and her powers while facing the challenges of her first months as Supergirl.

Because fighting Vartox, her Aunt Astra, Reactron, Max Lord, Livewire and Red Tornado were nothing compared to this. Some of those fights had made her angry. None of them had made her furious.

For this was not someone attacking Supergirl in her role as defender of National City.

No, this was different.

For the first time since she had gone public with her powers, she faced a direct, personal attack on Kara Danvers, instead of a professional one aimed at Supergirl.

And the attack came from the last person in the world she had expected to stab her in the back like this.

And that made her fury infinitely harder to manage.

For an instant, Kara had been simply stunned. Then she had felt a rising wave of pure rage. As the red mist that announced an oncoming heat vision blast had begun to form in front of her eyes, she had quickly closed them and dropped her head so she would not lose control. For the next few seconds, she fought with every ounce of mental strength she could command to attain a measure of mastery over the rage that she feared would overwhelm her. And even now, despite having her emotions and powers firmly under control again, she was more frightened than she had ever been in her life.

Because she didn't know how she had managed not to fry her tormentor on the spot.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kara had come out on the balcony in response to her boss' call. "Yes, Miss Grant?"

"Sit." The voice was cold and accompanied by a gesture.

The moment she sat down in the plush chair, Miss Grant moved toward her and spoke again. "Look into my eyes, Kiera. What do you see?"

"Um . . ."

"Bags." The two women nodded simultaneously.

Miss Grant continued, "I stayed up until dawn watching the news coverage of Supergirl. All the interrupted muggings and the averted car crashes, and the more I watched, the more I thought about the terrible things that happen while you're here at work."

Kara chuckled. "That should prove to you that I'm not her. I'm in here while she's out there."

Her boss was not impressed, "Oh, please, we both know that Supergirl is capable of pulling off that parlor trick. What it really proves to me is how little this job means to you."

Kara looked like a doe in the headlights. "No, that's not true, I love my job."

Miss Grant overrode her. "Every minute that you waste playing assistant in here is a minute that someone out there is not getting saved."

Kara looked at her boss, "Miss Grant, what are you saying?"

"I am saying that I will not partake in this ruse any longer. So you either prove to me that you are not Supergirl," she stood up, "or you can clean out your desk, tomorrow."

For an instant, Cat thought she saw a flash of light in her assistant's eyes, but the girl dropped her head with an impossible quickness that reminded Cat of a striking rattlesnake. A few seconds later, Keira got up, walked to the balcony rail, and looked out. For fifteen seconds, by Cat's watch, she did nothing, then she took a deep breath, relaxed, then she turned and looked at her boss.

"Then it seems that I will have to go put my thinking cap on. Good night, Miss Grant."

Cat Grant blinked and looked into the eyes of a woman she didn't recognize. Keira's voice was as pleasant as ever, but her eyes conveyed an expression and a coolness that Cat had never seen there before.

"Good night, Kiera."

As the other woman left, Cat realized what she had seen in her assistant's eyes. Keira was judging her, And somehow, Cat knew, she had been judged and found wanting.

Cat Grant began to wonder how just how well she knew Kara Danvers.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As she rode down the elevator, Kara examined the roots of her anger. Less than 48 hours ago, Cat had promised her a job with her for as long as she wanted. Now she had reneged on her promise – and this within a day after Kara had saved her boss' position at CatCo, not to mention having saved her life twice as Supergirl a few weeks before! And being fired was the thanks she got? And that by someone who had no idea of what being Supergirl was really like, nor why a day job was an essential, not an option?

But she had her anger under control now. And she put those thoughts aside to for later consideration so she could prioritize the problems she faced.

She couldn't just let herself be fired. Nor could she just quit. Both of those options would leave Cat still thinking that she was Supergirl. Ever since her boss had commented that she never joked about a good story, Kara had known that she could be hours away from being publicly outed in the Tribune. That would destroy her personal life, and put Alex, Eliza, and perhaps even Cat and Carter at risk. And of all possible outcomes, that was the one that could not be allowed to happen.

Somehow she had to prove she could not possibly be Supergirl. And that within twenty-four hours. How could she possibly do it?

She didn't know how to do it.

But she would do it.

She had to.

And then, she would leave CatCo.

She didn't want to do it.

But she had to.

There was no possible way she could stay.

Even if she could convince Miss Grant that she wasn't Supergirl this time, continuing to work at CatCo would be nothing more than an ongoing wait for the same bomb to explode once again. The strain on her nerves, and on her less than stellar acting skills, would be immense.

So she not only had to leave CatCo, she also had to find a way to justify her departure that her boss would accept without question.

That part was easy. She could already see at least one way she could do it.

Provided, of course, that she could somehow prove to Miss Grant that she was not Supergirl.


	2. A Fortuitous Coincidence

A sleepless night brought Kara no closer to a solution to her problem, but she began her workday as if nothing was wrong. She got up, went through her morning routine, went to Noonan's, bought Miss Grant's latte, gave it to her when she arrived, and went through her morning's work, conscious that her boss never stopped looking at her.

Cat Grant watched her assistant curiously, but with an edge of anger below the surface. The girl seemed to be ignoring the threat of her imminent dismissal. She was doing her work with the same effortless efficiency, she was the same Sunny Danvers to her colleagues, but she was remote and distant to her boss. Keira wouldn't even look at her unless Cat called her and when she did there was that same look of cool judgment that had been on her face last night. Just before lunch, however, the girl's phone rang. She took the call, nodded once, then left.

Idly, Cat wondered where she was going.

OOOOOOOOOO

The call had been from Alex. Kara flew to the DEO at top speed, talked to her sister, sent a message to her renegade uncle, and left an apoplectic General Lane behind her at the DEO. With her, she had her Aunt Astra in Kryptonite handcuffs, accompanied by Alex's strike team. They would exchange Astra for Hank at a deserted warehouse on the edge of the city.

The exchange seemed to go well, but Non had set an ambush. As Kara looked around at the group of hovering Kryptonians, she heard Alex mutter to Hank, "You have to transform." But before things could get heavy, Astra stood her Kryptonians down, and they flew away.

When the team got back to the DEO, Kara took Hank and Alex aside: "What did Alex mean when she said 'You have to transform?' Or did you forget that I have super hearing?"

OOOOOOOOOOO

Kara was still not back from lunch when Cat Grant's phone rang. She picked it up and found that it was her Art Director on the line.

"Hello, Mr. Olsen."

"Hello, Miss Grant, I've heard from Supergirl. She can meet you at your office, this evening at six as you asked."

"As I asked, Mr. Olsen?"

"That's what Kara said when she told me that you needed to see Supergirl ASAP and this evening if at all possible."

"Yes, I see. Thank you, Mr. Olsen."

A few minutes later Kara walked back to her desk.

"Keira," Cat called, "Come in here, please."

Kara Danvers walked into the office: "Yes, Miss Grant?"

"Mr. Olsen tells me that you took my name in vain to set up a meeting with Supergirl this evening."

"That's not exactly what I said. Since the only way I could think of to prove that I'm not Supergirl is to have her drop by while I'm also here, I'd say you need to see Supergirl, which is what I told Mr. Olsen. Can she come? And what time is she coming?"

"According to Mr. Olsen, Supergirl said she'll come by at six o'clock today. Is this your idea of a bluff, Keira? If so, it's very clumsy."

"No, Miss Grant, no bluff. I'll be here. I just hope that Supergirl doesn't have to deal with an emergency at the same time."

"A hundred to one she does."


	3. A Painful Confrontation

It was ten to six when Kara Danvers got up from her desk, looked at her boss and said: "I'm just going to the washroom for a second. I should be back before Supergirl gets here."

"We'll see," said her skeptical boss.

Kara walked out of Miss Grant's sight, ducked into a stairwell, changed into her Supergirl outfit and ran to the roof, where a second "Kara Danvers" was waiting.

"I'll get there no more than five seconds after you do. Don't forget your lines. Can you make your face a shade or two paler?"

"Yes," said "Kara," and she immediately looked a little feverish.

That's good. Do you remember the floor layout?"

"I remember the layout, and I've got the lines, Kara."

"Thanks again. Off you go. Make sure you leave when I ask for a private talk. If Miss Grant says come back later, tell her you feel ill and you're going home."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Cat Grant waved Kiera into her office as she walked back to her desk.

"Ten thousand to one Supergirl doesn't show up, Kiera."

"That would be a bad bet, Miss Grant."

Cat nearly dislocated her neck as she whipped her head around to see Supergirl standing on her balcony. Then she looked the other way, only to see that her assistant had not left the room. In the midst of her shock, all she could think of was that the younger woman was not smirking.

For the next few seconds, Cat looked back and forth between the two women.

"Is there something wrong, Miss Grant?" Supergirl asked.

A stunned Cat Grant remained silent.

"Thank you for coming, Supergirl. If you don't tell her, Miss Grant, I will," Kara said.

"Tell me what?" Supergirl asked.

"I don't believe you have met my assistant, Supergirl. This is Kara Danvers. Kara, Supergirl."

Two "Pleased to meet you"'s were heard almost in unison. Then Supergirl raised her eyebrows at Miss Grant, who continued:

"A few days ago I came to the erroneous belief that Ms. Danvers was you. I had very strong reasons for thinking so: for one thing, as you can see, there's some resemblance. But other things happened that made me certain she was you. I let Kara know what I thought and why I thought it. And when she denied being you, it left me no choice: she had to prove she was not Supergirl or she would have to leave her job."

"That's not precisely how you put it, Miss Grant," her assistant interjected. "At first, when I thought you were joking with me, you told me 'I never joke about a good story.' Then, a day later you told me that every moment I spent here as your assistant meant that somebody out there wasn't being saved, that you refused to partake in the ruse anymore, and that unless I could prove that I was not Supergirl by the end of today, I could consider myself fired."

For five seconds there was a total silence in the room. Then Supergirl spoke:

"Ms. Danvers, do you mind if I ask you a question or two?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you have any family or close friends in National City?"

"There's my mother, but she's in Midvale. My sister's here and I've got a couple of friends on the CatCo staff. I'm relatively new to National City, and I don't have a wide social circle."

Thank you. Would you mind letting me have a few private words with your boss? I'll need about ten minutes."

"Certainly, go ahead. It's past quitting time; I'm not feeling well, and I'm going home. Good night, Miss Grant."

"Good night. And, Keira?"

"Yes?"

"You proved your point. I'll see you tomorrow."

The girl nodded but did not reply as she left the room, continued toward the main elevators and vanished from sight. As she disappeared, Supergirl turned to Cat Grant.

"This needs to be what I understand you news folks call a deep background conversation."

"Agreed," Cat said.

Supergirl led the other woman out to the balcony: "You really didn't think this through, did you?"

"What do you mean, Supergirl?"

Supergirl's voice was calm, quiet and coldly furious: "Suppose it's yesterday and suppose that I'm Kara Danvers as well as Supergirl. In that situation, there's no way Ms. Danvers can keep her job because you have left her with this choice: either she admits she's Supergirl and you'll fire her, or she denies that she's Supergirl and you'll still fire her. Now, I do have to eat and pay rent and, by my own deliberate choice, I don't get paid a cent for what I do as Supergirl. So if I'm Ms. Danvers, this job has been paying my bills. How is Ms. Danvers supposed to give the 24/7 Supergirl service that you seem to want if she can't pay her bills? And why do you think I would do a better job under your plan than the one I am doing now? Have you spent any time doing my job? Or are you omniscient? Can you name one incident in National City in the last three months where someone needed my help, and I was not present, other than the first stage of the earthquake? That one I missed for a reason that had nothing to do with whether or not I have a day job. It was the direct result of a favor that I still can't talk about that I was asked to do for a certain government agency."

Cat Grant was silent. Her skin had gone a deep red. But Supergirl hadn't finished. She added a cutting, sarcastic edge to her tone as she continued.

"Did you even consider the possibility that I might have good reasons to do my work as Supergirl in the way that I do it? Did you forget that you could invite me to visit you for a talk about the matter before you fired someone who might not deserve to be fired? Well, as it happens, Miss Grant, I do have a day job, and I have some very good reasons for wanting to keep doing it. In fact, I simply won't continue to serve as Supergirl if I am prevented from working in such a job. Working with people who think I'm one of them, gives me an emotional stake in the livelihoods of the people of this city. And if you want me to serve as Supergirl, you need me to have that emotional connection and that care because they are the main reasons that I do this work. Take those away from me and you get a sociopath, Miss Grant, and, believe me, you do not want to see a sociopath with my powers."

"Equally important, I need a place where I can put my powers aside and just be a girl like any other girl in this town, judged and accepted for purely personal qualities and not the powers that living here gives me. And that place is not my private life because the people in my private life who know me as Emily Earthling also know that I'm Supergirl. I need a place where I can have downtime and put the cape aside. If that gets taken away, and I'm forced to be Supergirl 24/7, I can tell you right now that I'll be headed for a shortcut to either a breakdown or an abuse of my powers, just like a cop who is forced to be on duty all day. We'd both crack up from the strain. Do you want a cracked up Supergirl flying around National City, or do you want me to stay in reasonable mental health?"

"The latter of course," said Cat, stunned at her own stupidity.

"Then please use your head in future before telling me what to do and consider that you might be unaware of some of the factors that go into my decisions. And there's another thing you missed. You haven't forgotten Livewire, have you?"

"No, I haven't."

"Then you know exactly how dangerous it is to have a supervillain's target painted on your back. Outing Ms. Danvers as me, as you implied to her that you would, would have put targets on the backs of Ms. Danvers, her family, and her friends. That's a prospect that would scare anyone: no wonder Ms. Danvers looked a bit white under the strain."

"Oh, and one more thing. When you threatened to fire Ms. Danvers, you thought you were threatening to fire me. And after saving your life twice, being threatened with losing a job by you because you ignorantly disagree with me about how I fulfill my purely self-chosen responsibilities as Supergirl is not something I can regard as a friendly act. Tell me, can you give me one good reason why I shouldn't start passing my views on the situations I encounter to the local Daily Planet correspondent instead of to you?"

"Have I published anything less than fair criticism of you?"

"My cousin can't point to an example of where the Daily Planet has published anything less than fair criticism of him. So that dog won't hunt."

"While CatCo, unlike many other media organizations, is making money, it is not making much. Your exclusives are a significant benefit to CatCo. If you take them elsewhere, you will hurt not only CatCo in general but also Mr. Olsen and Ms. Danvers in particular as employees of CatCo. Do they deserve to be hurt? They will be if CatCo goes down."

"True – as far as it goes."

"So what are you going to do?"

Supergirl took a deep breath and relaxed.

"To be honest, I haven't made up my mind. I might ask Ms. Danvers what she thinks I should do. But I will say this. Part of the challenge of being Supergirl is that it's not easy to control my powers when I'm angry. But I must control them at all times, not only for the sake of the people around me but also for the sake of my long term future on this planet. And you might like to know that the hardest challenge I have yet had in controlling my anger and my powers didn't come when I fought criminals like Reactron or Livewire. It came right here, just now when I heard what you did to your assistant. Tonight, I came closer than I ever want to come to . . . to doing something that I would later regret. You've been a great champion of the people of National City in other situations. But in this instance, you have acted like an unbelievably presumptuous and willfully ignorant bully. I don't like bullies, Miss Grant, and the role doesn't suit you. You have done better and you can do better. Which means that you need to ask yourself why you fell below your standards. And I've got an idea about that."

"Oh?" Cat asked.

"Yes. Were you angry and jealous because Ms. Danvers didn't immediately take you into her confidence with shouts of joy once you announced you knew who she was so you could mentor her as Supergirl with the same skill I'm sure you bring to the task of mentoring her as your assistant?"

Cat Grant's jaw dropped in surprise.

"Is telepathy one of your superpowers?" she whispered, her face white.

"No, Miss Grant, that was just a guess, based on something Mr. Olsen said to me once. Since it's along the right lines, though, you need to understand something."

"What's that."

"As you might imagine, there are very, very few people who know that Emily Earthling is a Kryptonian."

Cat nodded.

"Since I arrived on this planet, my cousin has brought only six people into that circle, each without my consent. Thankfully, he chose his helpers well. At the time he made his choices, there was no thought on his, my, or their parts that I would ever become Supergirl, in fact, I grew up on this planet with the settled purpose of never using my powers publicly. Once that changed, I gained access to other mentors both through my own efforts and those of the people my cousin chose to help me. As it happens, you've been one of those mentors both indirectly, through the Tribune, and directly through our conversations. Yet all my mentors only know me as Supergirl. None of them, including yourself, needs to know my Emily persona."

Supergirl saw the look in Cat's eye and continued, "You might be wondering: 'Am I, perhaps, being overly paranoid about this?'"

Cat nodded.

Supergirl took a deep breath. When she continued, her voice was shot through with sorrow.

"The brutal fact that I reckon with daily is this: knowing Emily Earthling is Supergirl is extremely dangerous knowledge for the people that know it. In my early days here, I made a major mistake: I used one of my powers where someone else could see me, and that person was able to identify Emily as an alien. As a direct result of that mistake, one of the six people Superman brought into my secret was killed. I know that person's spouse and child well; I have had to walk through their grief with them and I will not," (and here Supergirl's eyes began to leak tears and she literally trembled in her zeal to communicate the depth of her commitment), "Absolutely. Will. Not. Take. Any. Avoidable risk of that happening a second time to anyone, and especially not to a mother with a young son, like you. Carter needs his mother, Miss Grant. Measured against that need, you simply can't be allowed to know who Emily is. Can you understand that?"

Cat Grant blinked, and her breath caught in her throat as the force of Supergirl's earnestness hit her like a flying wall. When she could speak, she said: "Yes. I see why you keep your circle so small. I understand that. Thank you for your explanation. And I apologize for my presumption. But I do have one question. What happened to the person who saw your mistake?"

"Your apology is accepted, Miss Grant. And that man? I lucked out there. He died in the same incident that killed my helper. Not by my hand or my cousin's, in case you're wondering. In fact, I didn't know anything about this whole situation until years after it happened. At first, I had thought my helper had died in an accident. But there's another point we need to talk about."

"And that is?"

"You must know that you have been one of my mentors as Supergirl. You just implicitly confirmed that you were mentoring Ms. Danvers. So why did you make all this fuss, when it wasn't necessary since you were already mentoring both of us?"

"Because I thought it was necessary. For one thing, one of the reasons I thought Kiera was you is that she displayed hearing abilities that are far above normal. Then she made it obvious that she'd made a mistake in displaying those abilities by trying to cover herself with an obvious lie. I wanted to give her the coaching she plainly needed on how to better hide her superpowers when she was living in her civilian identity. But she kept on denying that she was you and it infuriated me. I knew she was you, she had to be you, and she was still lying to me. There was no other possible explanation for her hearing Dirk when she said she did. He was too far out of ear. . ."

The media mogul suddenly stopped, horrified. Then she muttered, "Oh, shit."

"What is it, Miss Grant?" Supergirl asked.

Cat Grant couldn't meet Supergirl's eyes: "Synesthesia. I should have known."

"What do you mean?"

"Most of us experience sensory stimuli like hearing a musical note in terms of one sense only. When we hear music, our other senses are not affected. Synesthesia is the condition where someone experiences a sensory stimulus through more than one sense: they hear the musical note not just as the sound, but they also see a particular color or taste a particular taste. Some people have it all the time, some people get it very occasionally to intermittently, and some get it once in their life, like me. And since she's not Supergirl, it's dollars to donuts that Keira has it, too."

"What happened to you? And why do you think Ms. Danvers has it?"

"In my case, it was a case of sight to sound. I was taking an exam in a University music course. The question was to look at the score of the opening of a symphonic movement and identify the style, approximate time period, and if possible, the composer. Under normal circumstances I can read music; that is I know the notes, and I have something of an idea of what they will sound like. But I don't hear the instruments playing the piece in my head when I do. That day, however, I looked at the notes and I heard the orchestra play them in my head. It was beautiful. As for Keira, it seems that she can physically hear words when she sees peoples' lips move. And she clearly wants to keep that ability to herself."

"Clearly."

Cat sighed, "What an awful mess. And all because I jumped to a wrong conclusion without checking my facts."

"Yes. Good night, Miss Grant."

And with that, the Girl of Steel leaped up and was gone.


	4. A Regrettable Departure

It was half an hour later when Cat Grant left her office for the night. A few minutes after her car drove away, her assistant walked into CatCo Plaza and checked in at the Security Desk.

"Hi Joe," she said to the fatherly veteran who was the night shift desk guard. "I need to go back upstairs to do something for Miss Grant."

"That's fine, Kara."

Because of her job, Kara's keycard worked 24/7, and the elevator took her to the executive floor. After typing a letter for a few moments, she pulled up and completed a form. She then addressed an envelope, printed the documents, placed form and letter in the envelope, went into Cat's office and laid the envelope on her mentor's desk. Finally, on her way out, she stopped at her own desk, packed her few personal items and many snacks into a large bag she took out of her purse. Then she left the floor, signed out of the building, and went home.

With her decision made, she slept peacefully.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Cat Grant did not sleep at all.

It had been more than ten years since anyone had talked to her like that. And she was bitterly aware that she had deserved every single word of Supergirl's rebuke.

Just as she had deserved her assistant's looks of judgment.

Somehow she had to make things right with Keira.

"No, Kara," she told herself.

It took her all night to come up with a plan. And she was not at all sure that it would work.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kara took a deep breath as Miss Grant's elevator began its rise. She had gotten up early and practiced what she planned to say, but she could not predict either how Miss Grant would greet her or how she would react to her news.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As the elevator stopped, Cat Grant took a deep breath and walked out of the opening door. The daily latte was there, attached to her assistant, as usual. Kara's "Good morning" was identical in tone to hundreds of other greetings, but this morning, her assistant's eyes were as cool as they had been the day before, and Cat's heart sank. She had not realized how much Kara's normal warmth lifted her spirits.

"Good morning. Thank you, Kara. Please come into my office."

Kara Danvers noticed her boss had corrected her habitual mispronunciation of her name. But something that only two days before would have made her ecstatic with joy was now only a bitter reminder of what she had lost.

And of what she now had no choice but to do.

"Focus." She told herself, sternly.

As they passed the sofas, Miss Grant said, "Please sit down."

Kara sat down without a word. She waited, silently, as her boss sat opposite her.

"Kara, when I threatened you with that ultimatum two nights ago, I did something unutterably stupid, unbelievably unprofessional and completely unjustifiable on any moral grounds. I recognize that I not only threatened you with the loss of your job and the destruction of your private life, I also implicitly threatened to make you, your family and your friends the targets of any villain who wanted revenge on Supergirl. Last night after you left, Supergirl described my actions as those of an unbelievably presumptuous and willfully ignorant bully, and I can't deny the justice and the accuracy of her description. And all this after promising you a job for life, even before you saved my position with the company that has been my lifetime dream. You deserved, and still deserve, much better treatment from me, and I am truly and deeply sorry that I did not behave in the way you had and still have a perfect right to expect. I doubt that you could say anything to me that would make me more ashamed and angry at myself than I already am, but if you want to say anything about this, I am here to listen. And whatever you say will not affect your employment status in the least."

Kara remained silent.

After a long pause, Cat continued: "In the long run, I can only hope that you will agree with Supergirl when she said that my actions were not me at my best. She also believes I can do better. And I would like to do better, and I hope that you will trust me as I try to do better. Let me start by saying this. You are not fired, and you do have a job with me for life, and I will put that in writing if you like. I was wrong to withdraw that commitment, and I repudiate the withdrawal."

Kara Danvers heard her boss' words and her respect for Cat Grant rocketed upwards. She had long known that Cat had a measure of moral courage under her veneer of disdain and narcissism, but she had never expected this kind of about-face from her boss. It took all of her strength not to reach out to the other woman and tell her it would be all right.

But she couldn't let herself do that.

No matter how much she wanted to.

Cat sadly realized that the younger woman's face and eyes had not softened by so much as a millimeter.

"Thank you, Miss Grant." Kara replied, "I wish I could disagree with anything you said. I also understand that people make mistakes from time to time and, thanks to a later conversation with Supergirl when I got home, I think I may know why you did what you did, so you don't need to explain anything more. And thank you for telling her about synesthesia. I hadn't known about the condition and learning about it was very enlightening."

"And since I mentioned that later conversation, I should also tell you that Supergirl also asked me what I thought she should do about CatCo in the light of what's happened. I told her that I have no complaint to raise with the corporation and that I didn't want her to do anything that punishes CatCo because of your dealings with me. Whether she'll follow my advice or not, she didn't say."

"How did Supergirl get your home address?" Cat wondered.

"It turns out that she can hear and identify people's heartbeats. Once she knows someone's heartbeat, she can home in on that person even if they are on the other side of National City. But going back to our issues, I would like to be able to say that I don't hold your mistakes against you, and while I hope I will eventually come to the place where I can truly mean that; honesty compels me to admit that I'm not there yet. And I also need to say something about what needs to happen next."

"Go ahead."

"You'll find an envelope on your desk."

With that, whatever warmth there had been in the room vanished. Cat shivered as she faced the unbreakable wall of cool determination emanating from the girl in front of her.

"It contains my resignation and my completed Form 232 for your signature."

"You don't have to resign," Cat protested.

"I disagree: I have no choice but to resign."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because even if I do get to the point of forgiving what you said; in the long run, it wouldn't be healthy for us to continue. This situation has created too much baggage and too many trust issues for both of us."

"What do you mean?"

"For one thing, you don't trust me. You didn't believe me when I said I wasn't Supergirl. And even though I was able to prove you wrong on the point at issue, I know that's not enough to restore your trust. You need an assistant you can trust and that's not me. Also, for me to stay on you'd have to overlook the fact that your confidential assistant did not keep your confidence and embarrassed you in front of a significant CatCo asset and, in doing so, may have cost CatCo that asset. That's major unprofessional conduct on my part, Miss Grant, and if you had asked me what you should do to any other CatCo employee who'd behaved as I have, I'd have to tell you to fire them. Not that I'd be needing to tell you that: you'd have already done it the moment you'd heard what happened."

"But I gave you intolerable provocation. Your actions arose out of my fault. And you had to do what you did to keep your family safe. Nor did you embarrass me. I had already given Supergirl most of the essential facts."

"Only after I threatened to disclose those facts to Supergirl. And you didn't give all of them; I had to supplement your account. I don't want to work for somebody whose confidence I had to break. Because in the long term, you'd always wonder if you could trust me to keep your confidence. You need somebody you believe you can trust absolutely as your confidential assistant, Miss Grant, and my own actions and words prove that you can't trust me that way anymore. But there's more."

"More?" Cat asked.

"Yes, more. For one thing, when I look at you right now, I see Livewire shooting a lightning bolt at my foster Mom. That's an image that's not going to go out of my head anytime soon. But there's something else that's equally important to me."

"And that is?"

"The Declaration of Independence. I'm a bit of a Jefferson nut."

"What does that have to do with us, Kara?"

"'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.' When you tried to force me to become Supergirl full time, you were attempting to override the second and third of those rights. I'm not a slave, Miss Grant. You had no right to try to do that, and I simply won't work for anybody who tries to do that to me. I would lose whatever sense of self-respect I have if I did."

Mechanically, Cat moved to her desk, opened the envelope, read Kara's completed Termination Form and her resignation letter. She tried, once again, to reach the girl.

You only say "personal reasons" here for why you resigned. You don't give the specifics of what happened. Why not?"

"That Form 232 will go into my HR file. I don't want to embarrass you."

"What if I don't accept your resignation? I meant what I said about you having a job for life. You are owed three weeks vacation time. Why not take that time and see how you feel after a vacation? Maybe you'll feel differently after a break."

"I know myself better than that, Miss Grant."

The flat bleakness in Kara's voice told Cat Grant that she couldn't win this battle. She countersigned Kara's Form 232 with a heavy heart, and then she looked up. "Can you at least finish out the day?"

"Of course. Along the way, I'll also update the job description and take all the forms to HR, put together a list of ongoing and unfinished tasks, and I'll email my notes for being an efficient assistant to a colleague with instructions to email them to my replacement. It should help them to hit the ground running."

"Thank you. Please let me know when all of that is done."

"Yes, Miss Grant."

And with that, Kara picked up her signed termination notice and her resignation and walked out of the office, leaving a distracted Cat Grant trying to focus on other things. And failing, miserably.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A quick phone call to James and a quiet word in Winn's ear was all it took to arrange a lunch date for team Supergirl. Kara left the floor early to be sure she got their favorite table at Noonan's where they could talk without being overheard.

When the boys arrived, and the waitress had taken their orders, Kara was brisk. "I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I managed to prove to Miss Grant that Kara Danvers and our mutual friend are not one and the same."

"How on earth did you do that?" James asked.

"Let's just say that I had some specialized help from Alex and the DEO."

"Are you sure Cat will keep on buying it?" Winn, true to his nature, was looking for potential problems.

"Yes, she will. But that leads me to the bad news. To make sure she keeps on buying it, I can't continue to be right there under her eye. And this incident has given me the perfect excuse to resign without raising her suspicions. And so I have resigned, effective at the end of the day today."

"Are you sure you're not overreacting?" asked Winn.

James cocked his head.

"There's no way I can stay on at CatCo. If I did, repeated coincidences of me disappearing and our mutual friend showing up would soon have Miss Grant wondering again. I'm not going to wait for that bomb to go off. I've got the perfect excuse to get out now, and I'm taking it. Our mutual friend can go on meeting with Miss Grant every so often, but with Kara out of the picture, it's less likely there'll be a problem."

"I see," James said as Winn nodded.

"Where are you going to work?" Winn asked.

"I've got a bunch of offers, but I won't be taking any of them up immediately. Instead, I've told the DEO I'll work for them on a temporary basis at least until we get my aunt and her Kryptonians under control." So, Winn, it looks like you'll need to dismantle our office."

"No problem. I can do that over the weekend. I've got mostly same grade equipment at home and I can easily get a couple of additional servers and transfer the programs. But I'll set things up so that I can access them from my personal tablet and I'll be bringing it to work so I can still check things out if you need me to."

The rest of the lunch was a bit of a downer, but Kara assured James and Winn that she would stay in touch and their team would go on.

OOOOOOOOOOO

After returning to CatCo, Kara stopped by HR, handed in the necessary paperwork, then returned to her desk and completed the tasks she had set herself. Then, she sent an email to her colleagues that announced her resignation and thanked them for their help. Then, with nothing else to do, she checked in with her mentor for the last time.

"Will there be anything else, Miss Grant?"

"There's one more thing, Kara."

"And that is?"

"Although I hoped you wouldn't, I've suspected since last night that you might decide to resign. I think you will agree that this is not a normal resignation. Instead, it was unjustifiably forced by my own actions."

"I can't disagree with that," Kara said.

Cat reached into her desk. "You could say it's none of my business if I ask 'what will you do now'? But I happen to know that the job market is still tight. I don't want you to suffer any more than you have to because of my stupidity and so I would like to give you this." She handed her protégé an envelope.

Kara opened the envelope and found a laudatory and detailed reference letter that ended by noting that Kara Danvers would be welcomed back to CatCo with open arms anytime she wanted to return. Also in the envelope was a personal check that equaled three months of her salary. Through her shock, Kara heard Miss Grant speak again.

"Instead of our usual policy of just mentioning employment dates, HR has been instructed to reply to all requests for your references by emailing that letter."

"Miss Grant, I'll accept the reference letter, but the check isn't necessary. I will be starting my new job next Monday. With my vacation pay, I'm covered, and there won't be any financial hardship, truly."

"That was fast."

Kara Danvers gave her an attempt at a smile that was no more than a grimace. "Surviving this long as your assistant has got me noticed in all the right places. In the last week alone, I've received four job offers from various companies. It was simple to pick and choose. Is there anything else?"

"No. But Kara, please keep that check. Feeling forced to resign from a job that you love because of my stupidity is bad enough. If you use your vacation pay to cover your costs for the first few weeks at your new job, you won't be able to take a vacation this year. And you don't deserve to lose your vacation. You can also use the money if your new job falls through, or you can donate it to some worthy cause if it doesn't. I just want to be certain that you be won't suffer any additional losses as a consequence of my idiocy. It would ease my mind, Kara. Please don't let your pride keep you from letting me help you this much."

Kara swallowed, and fought to keep her voice under control."All right, Miss Grant, I'll take it. Thank you."

"You're welcome. And remember, if you ever do change your mind, there will always be a job for you with me."

Sadly, Kara shook her head.

"Thank you, but no. Good-bye, Miss Grant." And Kara put down her keycard on her mentor's desk and left the floor, leaving a stunned Cat Grant behind her.


	5. I Have Not Yet Begun To Fight

For fifteen minutes after Kara left, Cat Grant simply sat, stricken, in her chair. Then her mind and will began to assert themselves again, and for the next twenty minutes, she thought hard.

Her first thoughts were of her uncle, a career naval officer, and the stories he had told her about John Paul Jones, the US Navy's greatest fighter.

Then she made her plans.

Finally, she moved. She called up a document on her computer, changed two words, wrote a quick email, attached the document, and sent it.

Within ten minutes, her phone rang. It was the caller she expected. After a short conversation, she hung up and moved toward her private elevator. As she passed by Kara's desk, now stripped of all her former assistant's personal belongings, she stopped and looked at it.

"You don't get away from me that easily, Kara Danvers," she muttered. "I have not yet begun to fight."

OOOOOOOOO

Kara Danvers spent a restful weekend. With her secret secure, she had been able to relax and sleep in for the first time in months. She'd called Winn and surprised him with the news that she could cover any costs involved in moving Team Supergirl's computer operations from CatCo to his apartment.

"How can you afford that? You eat three times what any normal person eats, and you just left your job."

"Miss Grant gave me a going away present. Three months salary, paid by her personally."

"Nice."

"So why don't we get together sometime next week and I can pay you back if I need to?"

"Lunch Tuesday?"

"Great. See you at Noonan's at 12:30?"

"Sure," Winn said.

OOOOOOOOO

Supergirl flew to the DEO first thing Monday morning. After an hour of tough negotiations with Hank and Alex, they had come to what they thought was a workable agreement. While Supergirl would work for the DEO, Kara Danvers would not formally join the staff. Since the DEO had access to the FBI's Witness Protection Program at need, the DEO hired a super powered consultant who could work according to their rules but would never be identified in any official paperwork. Meanwhile, Kara could set up a business as a Virtual Assistant working from her home, get paid under the table from the DEO and turn down all prospective clients on the grounds that she was too busy to take on new business, all without worrying about any IRS complications.

A jubilant Kara was having a coffee with her sister in the DEO break room when her phone rang.

"Hello."

"Good morning, Ms. Danvers, it's David Bingham."

Instantly, Kara froze.

OOOOOOOOO

In the US media world, David Bingham was a legend. Thirty years ago, he'd been among the wave of top-flight Canadian journalists that the US TV networks had recruited to the big leagues to revitalize their operations. While Morley Safer, Peter Jennings, and Robert McNeil had become better known became of their on-camera celebrity, Bingham was happier being an innovator behind the scenes. After building a new Canadian network news operation from scratch that had competed successfully with Canadian and US affiliate stations with one-fifth of the budget of the former and one tenth of the latter, he'd been recruited to take over the declining news division of ABC. Within two years he'd built a news team that rivaled CBS, and for most of the next three decades, ABC News was the best in the business. When he retired in 2010, he was still young at heart and looking for new challenges. Cat Grant had brought him on board as a CatCo director that year, and he had been made CatCo's Board Chair after the spectacular collapse of Dirk Armstrong's attempted coup. Kara had dealt with him often, knew that he was Cat's closest boardroom ally and confidant, and was still as sharp as a tack.

And now he was calling Kara.

This could be tricky.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Yes, Mr. Bingham," Kara said. "What's happened?"

"I'm calling because something has come up with regard to the Annual Report that you and Cat submitted last week. Is it possible we can get together to discuss it?"

"Is there something wrong with Miss Grant? She should be able to answer your questions."

"She did, but her answers left something to be desired. Since you were involved, I thought you might be able to help, and Cat had no objection to my talking to you. By the way, I'm very sorry to hear that you've left the company. We'll miss you."

Kara ignored the last two sentences. This was trouble.

"I'm afraid I've just started a new job, so the earliest I could see you is around 5:15 today. Where should we meet? And how long will this take?"

"I have an office in the Comstock building. As for how long, um, it might be under half an hour, but it might go longer than that. Do you have any dinner plans?"

"Not really."

"Well then, how about meeting me at my office and we'll go to the Gold Rush Club for dinner. I'll reserve a corner in the drawing room for our conversation after that."

The Gold Rush Club! That was the National City's elite's home away from home.

A dazed Kara mechanically replied. "Thank you, Mr. Bingham. I'll see you at 5:15 at your office."

"Thank you, Ms. Danvers."

They hung up. Kara looked at her phone as if it were a loathsome snake.

"Jut what I needed." She muttered.

"What's going on?" asked her sister.

"That was the CatCo Board Chair. Apparently, something's wrong with the annual report Miss Grant and I submitted last week, and he wants to see me about it. And that means that there is nothing left for me to do but to call Miss Grant, and I would rather die a thousand deaths."

"Why do you have to call your ex-boss?"

"To confirm what Mr. Bingham said. And to make sure she knows what's going on if she doesn't already know."

"No wonder you thought of General Lee's surrender."

"A scientist like you catching a history reference?"

"I watched the Civil War documentary with you, remember?"

Kara grinned at her sister. "Yes, I remember."

OOOOOOOO

But the call was quick and to the point. As soon as Kara explained why she was calling, Miss Grant cut in:

"That's fine, Kara, just answer his questions. I thought he might want to call you. I'll leave a note for you with Lucille at Reception that will authorize you to answer any questions he asks."

"Why would I need that?"

"Because he may ask you some things that you might wish to reserve on the grounds of maintaining my confidences. So you need to know that I specifically authorize you to speak to those issues so you won't feel conflicted should you need to respond."

Kara raised an eyebrow as she listened. "I think I see," she said slowly. "Thank you, Miss Grant. I'll pick up the note as soon as possible. Goodbye."

"Goodbye, Kara."

Kara looked at her sister.

"This just gets worse and worse."

"What do you mean?"

"This is not just about the annual report."

OOOOOOOO

Supergirl made a fast flight to the CatCo building's roof, arriving on the stroke of noon. She slipped into the deserted staircase, changed into Kara Danvers, ran down the stairs to the CatCo magazine floor and punched the floor keycode. The door opened, and Kara slipped into the side corridor and walked to the elevator. There was no reception desk on this floor, so she just waited for the elevator. When it arrived, she pushed the button for the executive floor.

"Hello, Kara," said the receptionist as she arrived, "I was sorry to hear that you'd left. Miss Grant left an envelope here for you." The girl handed it over.

"Thanks, Lucille," said Kara absentmindedly as a sudden movement over the girl's shoulder caught her attention. Winn had suddenly stood up at his desk, taken a remote from a colleague's hand and turned down the volume. He looked shocked. Kara looked at the silenced screen above Lucille's head which was set to the same channel. The closed caption text told her that a convict named Winslow Schott Snr., also known as Toyman had escaped from a maximum security penitentiary.

At that moment, Kara found herself in the middle of a group of people who had just got off the elevator. The woman in charge, who reminded Kara of her sister Alex, said to Lucille: "I'm Special Agent Cameron Chase, FBI. Where can we find Winslow Schott Junior?"

A mute Lucille just pointed behind her. Kara watched as the FBI agents surrounded Winn.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As Winn came out of the conference room, he saw Kara waiting for him.

"What brings you here?"

"Picking up a note Miss Grant left for me. There's a loose end on the annual report we submitted last week that Mr. Bingham asked me to help clear up."

The group of FBI agents had moved to Winn's desk leaving them alone in the reception area.

"I suppose you heard?"

Kara nodded.

"Let's go out on the balcony."

"Sure."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

On the balcony, Winn looked out and sighed.

Kara started the conversation: "You did say your Dad was in prison, but not that he . . . "

"Because I didn't want you looking at me the way that you're looking at me right now."

And as Winn told the story, Kara couldn't look at him.

When he finished, Kara said: "I know there's nothing anyone can say to make you feel better right now."

"Well, hey, you have a homicidal maniac in the family, too, so you know where I'm coming from."

Kara tried to console her friend. "At least your father knows enough to keep his distance."

Winn looked back through the office window. Then he opened his knapsack and pulled out a small doll.

"So I found this on my desk this morning." He pulled the string.

"The doll said. "Son, come see me at our favorite place. I'll be waiting for you."

Kara looked at her friend.

"I don't know what to do."

"Why did you lie to the feds?"

"I don't know. Kara, I've spent my entire life just trying to forget what he did, trying not to be just consumed by this anger that I have for him. And trying even, in my best moments, to forgive, but I still just hate him."

Kara pulled Winn into a hug.

"I'm leaving an agent here," It was Agent Chase at the balcony door. "In case your father shows up."

"Agent Chase. There's something I have to show you. This was on my desk this morning." Winn showed her the doll. Then he pulled the string.

Twenty seconds later the FBI Agents had taken Winn back to the briefing room to plan their visit to the old amusement park, leaving Kara alone on the balcony.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Cat Grant was working at her desk when Supergirl landed on her balcony.

"Well, good afternoon, Supergirl. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"A message from Mr. Olsen. It seems one of his friends here has a problem that involves an escaped convict in his family, and the FBI is now meeting with that employee. Mr. Olsen asked me, as a favor to him, to offer my help to the FBI and to help out his friend at the same time."

"Who is the employee?"

"A Mr. Winn Schott. My super hearing tells me they are in a small conference room off the reception area on this floor."

"Then please come with me, Supergirl."

Twenty seconds later, Cat Grant walked into the conference room, followed by Supergirl. Their entrance was a conversation stopper. One of the FBI team immediately spoke up:

"I'm sorry, but you'll have to leave this room. I'm FBI Special Agent Cameron Chase, and you have just interrupted an official FBI interview."

"And I'm Cat Grant, the owner of this building, and Mr. Schott's employer. Winn, do you need a lawyer? Our new general counsel should still be talking with HR."

"No, Miss Grant, they are just asking routine questions about someone I knew years ago and haven't had contact with for over a decade. I don't think I need a lawyer right now."

"Please let me know immediately if the situation changes." With that Cat left the room.

"Why are you here Supergirl?" asked Agent Chase.

"Mr. Schott is a friend of someone who knows how to reach my cousin and to whom my cousin owes a few favors. So my cousin got asked for a favor and he, in turn, asked me to drop by and help."

"What help do you think you can give us?"

"As it happens, I was doing a city patrol in the area when I got the call and thanks to my super hearing I've been able to hear your discussion since you arrived in this room. So I know the place where Mr. Schott is supposed to go. For starters, how would you like me to check it out with my x-ray vision before he goes in?"

"I see. That kind of help we can use. Welcome to the team, Supergirl."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

An hour later, as Winn walked along the boardwalk toward the amusement arcade, Supergirl arrived and hovered ten thousand feet above the building. She had an open phone connection to the DEO where her sister had patched her call into an untraceable government line. That line, in turn, was now connected to both her friend and the FBI team leader who, between moments of monitoring Winn, was wondering how Supergirl had the connections to use a phone line that the FBI couldn't trace.

Now Supergirl aimed her x-ray vision down at the building.

"Mr. Schott, Agent Chase," she said, "There's nobody in that building."

"How sure are you?" the FBI Agent asked.

"Certain. Maybe Toyman left something in there for Mr. Schott to find."

"So I should still go in?" Winn asked.

"Yes," Agent Chase replied.

OOOOOOOOO

"God, look at you." The voice came out of the darkness and was picked up by the mike in Winn's shirt pocket and transmitted to Supergirl and Agent Chase.

"You need to turn yourself in," Winn said as he saw his father for the first time in years.

"Oh no, I broke out of prison for you."

"Agent Chase," Supergirl called. "I see Mr. Schott, but I don't see anybody else."

"Could you see it if Mr. Shott was to tap his hand against his leg?"

"Yes," Said Supergirl as she moved to get a better angle.

"Mr. Schott when you reply next time, tap your right hand against your leg twice for emphasis if you can see your father."

Winn replied to his father's statement, "I thought this" he threw the doll, "was your greatest work." He added the last two words slowly and sarcastically while hitting his thigh twice in emphasis.

"He's tapped his thigh twice," Supergirl announced.

"We have eyes on Schott: tactical teams move in." It was Agent Chase.

As the conversation continued, the tac teams quietly carried out their instructions.

Suddenly seven rifles were pointing at the escaped Toyman.

"Hands where I can see them. Now!" It was Agent Chase.

"I said 'Hands up.'"

Winn looked at his father, whose hands hadn't moved.

"Dammit, Dad, put your hands up!" Winn yelled.

"Winn, how could you?" asked his father.

"Suspect not cooperating, weapons free," yelled Agent Chase.

Winn turned and yelled "No," but his voice was drowned as dozens of bullets were fired and destroyed the mirror behind the hologram of his dad that had made it possible.

"I told you to come alone," the doll on the floor said. "Now run."

"What?" said Winn.

"Run!," yelled the doll.

And suddenly the room was filled with a poisonous gas.

And then, almost equally suddenly, Supergirl arrived, breathed in all of the gas, flew out of the room, soared high into the sky and well away from National City before exhaling.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When Winn got back to CatCo, he found Miss Grant waiting.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what, Miss Grant?"

"That you were the spawn of Toyman."

"I didn't want anyone to know."

"Then perhaps you should have considered changing your name. When can we set up the TV interview?"

"No interview, Miss Grant."

"No interview, Mr. Schott? You do work for me after all."

"Yes, but this isn't a professional request where you are my boss. This is a matter of my personal life, and you don't get to boss me in my personal life. I've never given a press interview on this subject, and I'm not starting now."

Winn's words hit Cat with the force of a punch to her stomach.

"You are correct, Mr. Schott, I apologize."

"Besides the only person I'd give an interview to on this is Kara, and she's not here anymore."

"Why Kara?"

Winn noticed that his boss had corrected her perennial mispronunciation of Kara's name.

"Because she'd understand something of what I feel right now."

Cat Grant's eyelids lowered in thought for a moment.

"I see. Thank you, Mr. Schott."

Winn turned to leave Cat's office.

But Cat wasn't quite done.

"If I see you talking to Dianne Sawyer, you're fired."


	6. Dinner With A Legend

David Bingham was shorter than Kara by an inch or so with a full head of white hair, despite being in his mid-seventies. Kara, who always pigeonholed acquaintances by the actors they resembled, had noticed that he looked like a cross between Humphrey Bogart and Alan Ladd, and she suspected that his appearance had been part of his stock in trade as a foreign correspondent back in his Canadian days. He still moved like a dancer, she thought now, as they walked briskly from the Comstock building to the large and opulent 19th-century townhouse that housed the Gold Rush Club.

When they arrived, Bingham revealed himself to be a gentleman of the old school. He took Kara's coat, handed it to the coat check girl and led her into the dining room. When they got to their table, he pulled out her chair for her and fussed over her as she sat down. It was all very decorous and pleasant, and Kara enjoyed being the object of his attentions while she still kept alert. As they waited for their waiter, he asked Kara some questions about what she thought of CatCo's operations. The detailed discussion that followed took them through most of the meal. Then Bingham asked what she thought were Cat Grant's greatest strengths.

"That's easy," Kara said. "She sees the opportunities nobody else does, and she builds teams that take advantage of them. It's why CatCo had the greatest year in its history last year. All the opportunities she created or took advantage of. The website revamp, buying and turning around the Tribune and building a relationship with Supergirl have simply made CatCo a far better news organization than it was before. And revenue has gone way, way up in consequence."

"So how do we get her to do more of that kind of thing?"

"Find her a number two who can take the routine work of keeping her department heads going full tilt off her hands so she can look for new worlds to conquer," Kara replied.

"That's a very astute observation, Ms. Danvers. Would it surprise you to learn that the Board, the senior managers, and HR have been looking for such a person for the last two years?"

"I don't suppose such a person would be easy to find."

"That's true, unfortunately. Ideally, we'd like to find people who already work at CatCo, then rotate them through all key CatCo operations and measure their growth. But before we do that, we need to identify potential candidates and so far, even though we measure every employee who might have that potential against our need, none of them has been suitable for one reason or another."

They suspended their conversation as the waiter came to serve their desserts.

After the waiter had left, Kara moved the conversation to a new topic:

"Miss Grant told me once that you were a war correspondent during the Vietnam war."

"Yes, that was during my time in Canada."

"She said you got the biggest single scoop of the war and changed its direction all at once."

"I'm not sure I'd agree with that view of the matter. The My Lai story was at least equally significant. What happened was that I was able to prove that the North Vietnamese army was using Cambodia to run supplies down to South Vietnam and avoid the Southern forces on the north/south border. That proof led to the US invasion of Cambodia."

"How did you do find that out?" Kara wondered.

"By going into Cambodia, wandering down the main north/south road and being captured by a North Vietnamese army unit. Fortunately, their Captain spoke some French, and being raised in a part of Canada that speaks the language, I knew enough French to point out that I was not an American and my passport proved the point. So they let us go."

Kara was awed, not only by the man's courage but at the way he made light of what must have been a truly frightening situation. "It must take a great deal of courage to be a war correspondent."

"Not really," Bingham replied. "Actually, it takes far more courage to be a good husband and father, an honorable person and a loyal friend. At least, I've found it so." He smiled, a little sadly, Kara thought, and her heart felt for him.

"Thank you, Mr. Bingham," she said softly, "That's something I needed to hear."

"The memories of an old man are that important?"

"No, but what a wise man thinks significant is that important."

"Why?"

"Because you sound as if you learned that lesson in the hard way of painful experience, and if you did, I'm sorry. But lessons learned that way are often the most valuable ones. I know I'm young, but I also know that I need to keep a sense of perspective about some things and what you've just said really speaks to me. A person of your professional eminence thinking that career success isn't worth as much as being a good person? That will help me keep my priorities straight. Thank you."

"If it helps you, you're welcome to it." Mr. Bingham said. But he was giving her an odd look as he said it.

It was as though he had never seen her before.

Kara decided to find out what was going on.

"Why are you looking at me like that, Mr. Bingham?"

"You just repeated word for word, something that my son said once. I was surprised when he said it. Now that you've echoed him, I might be able to believe he meant it."

"Why should you disbelieve him in the first place?"

Because I treated his mother very badly, and we divorced when Bob was still a young baby. We had very little contact while he was growing up because I felt guilty about the way I had acted. In the last few years, we have grown a little closer, at his initiative, but I've never understood why he either wants to get to know me better or why he doesn't hold what I did against me. When I ask him, he says his mother was always careful to give both sides of the story when she talked to him about us and that he has made enough mistakes of his own to have sympathy for my position." Suddenly his voice changed. "Ms. Danvers, now that you have left CatCo, have you given any thought to your future?"

"Not really. I have received a number of offers to join companies as an Executive Assistant, but for now, I've taken a temporary job helping out my sister with her work."

"Then may I offer you a suggestion?"

"Please."

"I think you should most seriously consider pursuing a career as a reporter."

The out-of-the-blue suggestion caught Kara by surprise.

"Why do you say that?"

I know you can write well from reading your correspondence. I know that you have good news judgment from some comments Cat has made. Now I have discovered that you can effortlessly conduct a probing interview and that you have the most important ability of all."

"What's that?"

"You make people want to talk to you. You had me opening up about one of my deepest griefs in less than five minutes and I don't know anybody else in American journalism who could have done that."

"I'm really sorry, Mr. Bingham," a contrite Kara apologized, "I didn't mean to pry."

"I know you didn't. But let's continue this conversation in the drawing room."

OOOOOOOOO

The drawing room reminded Kara of nothing more than a smoking room on board the old luxury ocean liners she'd seen on films. As they sat in a secluded corner, Mr. Bingham began to speak to the real purpose of their meeting.

"I know that you have left CatCo, but may I ask you to keep this part of our conversation to yourself as a professional confidence?"

"Of course," Kara replied.

"You know that you and Cat prepared and submitted the CatCo Annual Report last week?"

Kara nodded.

"Did you help Cat prepare the Confidential Addendum to the Board that goes with it?"

"No, Mr. Bingham, I never do that. Miss Grant always does that herself."

"So you don't know what's in it?"

"No," Kara replied, puzzled. Where was this going?

"And you won't know how the board sets compensation levels for our senior executive team, including Cat."

"Well, I know that you use salaries, bonuses, and stock options, but I've never thought any more about it."

"Well, in the simplest terms it works like this," Bingham said. "When CatCo has a banner year and returns are above target, a proportion of that above target amount is set aside for such things as raises, bonuses, or stock option grants. This year was a banner year and the set-aside amount for the seven people in the senior management group is in the fifty million dollar range."

"That's a lot of money."

"Yes, but each manager has specific, demanding targets to meet in several areas. These targets are set by Cat, or in Cat's own case, by the Board. If a manager reaches all his targets or all but one or two, their performance is ranked Satisfactory. If a manager exceeds all assigned targets, their performance is ranked Above Satisfactory. And if a manager misses all or a majority of their targets, their performance is ranked Unsatisfactory."

"So if they don't meet their targets, they don't get bonuses, raises or grants?" Kara asked.

"You are as quick as Cat said," Bingham replied. "But there's more. If a manager's ranking is Above Satisfactory, they receive twice the agreed upon percentage of bonus, salary increase and stock options than the manager with Satisfactory performance receives. Given CatCo's performance this year, into which class do you think Cat will fall?"

"I don't know her assigned targets, so I can't say, but I suspect she would be ranked as Satisfactory or Above Satisfactory."

"Yes, except for one small thing."

"Yes?" Kara prompted.

The Board's arrangement with Cat is a little bit different from the agreements with CatCo's other managers. While the Board sets her objectives and she either meets them or she doesn't, there's a complication in that Cat, as CEO, rates her own performance although the Board ratifies it. But when she started CatCo, she added an additional provision with regard to herself. And that is that while the Board can lower her rating, it cannot raise it. And this year, she has more than met all our objectives, and when she turned in the Confidential Addendum last week, she rated her performance as Above Satisfactory – as I, and the Board, fully expected that she would do. And that is a rating that we on the Board fully agree she has earned. And she was the only one of the Senior Managers to earn that rating, all the rest earned Satisfactory ratings. So in practical terms what that rating would have meant for Cat this year is an eight percent salary increase, a high seven-figure bonus, and an equally high seven-figure stock option grant."

"Would have meant, Mr. Bingham?"

"Yes, you see, late last Friday night, Cat submitted a revised Addendum in which she rated her performance as Unsatisfactory."

"That doesn't make sense. She's turning down well over ten million dollars, all told." Kara said.

"That's right."

"Did you ask her why she changed her rating?"

"I called her within five minutes of receiving her email." Bingham paused.

"And she said?" Kara prompted.

"Cat said she was lowering her rating to Unsatisfactory because she had made a major mistake in an area that was not covered by our agreement, and that her change in rating was a means of disciplining herself for her error. And, of course, I asked her what the mistake was. She told me that she had (and I quote her) 'engaged in a form of professionally unjustifiable and personally despicable interference with an employee's private life and that the employee concerned had resigned in protest,' (end of quotation)."

Kara's face had gone pure white at Bingham's last sentence.

"Needless to say, I asked for further details. But Cat did not provide any. Instead, she said that she did not feel that she had a right to breach our former employee's privacy in this matter. I then asked Cat to give me the name of the employee in question. Knowing that I would easily find that employee by going through HR for any resignations dated after the Annual Report was first turned in, Cat complied. And in a special meeting on the weekend, I was deputized by the Board to ask you some questions about the circumstances that have led to your departure."

Kara nodded, heartsick and tense.

"The first question is obvious. Will you tell me what the issue was between you and Cat?"

Kara carefully thought through the implications of that question before she answered. It took her a long time.

"No. Mr. Bingham, I won't speak to that point. As Miss Grant said, the subject of our disagreement is something that is part of my private life. It had no bearing on my work at CatCo, nor, from what I can see, did it have any bearing on Miss Grant's stewardship of CatCo, which is the Board's legitimate interest. And I can't see any reason why the Board would need to know what the matter was in order to try to persuade Miss Grant to change her mind should it wish to do so. And although her interference in my private life was personally unacceptable, in fairness to Miss Grant, I must utterly reject her use of the word 'despicable' to describe it. She had what she thought to be very good reasons for thinking her somewhat forceful suggestion might be in the long term best interests of many people, including myself. Unfortunately, there were factors of which she was ignorant that made her suggestion impractical. And it wasn't her suggestion I objected to so much as it was one of the arguments that she put forward to support it. Also, and again in fairness to Miss Grant, I must add that her interference in my private life was not the only reason I resigned. An equally important reason for my resignation is the fact that I couldn't think of any other way to demonstrate to Miss Grant that her suggestion was impractical other than one that involved telling a third party something I had learned in my role as Miss Grant's confidential assistant. And, as you know, such a breach of confidence is a termination offense."

"Indeed," Bingham replied. "But without wishing to invade your privacy further, the Board must, if possible, specifically exclude two potential types of interference with an employee's private life, since such an interference, of necessity, would require the Board's involvement as a matter of law."

Kara was horrified: "Are you asking if Miss Grant initiated a sexual solicitation, or engaged in physical violence against me?"

Bingham was unruffled, "Those are the possibilities that we must exclude."

"Then I am happy to tell you and the Board that Miss Grant did neither of those things," Kara replied with some force.

"Thank you. I never doubted for a second that you would say something like that. But there is another question I need to ask: how likely do you think it is that Cat will repeat this mistake."

"It can't happen again."

"Why are you so certain?"

"From the nature of the matter between us. It is literally not possible for her to make the mistake again with me, or anyone else, although I'm afraid you'll have to take my word for that, unfortunately."

"I'm happy to do that, Miss Danvers," Bingham replied, "and I believe the Board will be, too, now that the unlamented Mr. Armstrong has shown his true colors and can no longer formulate dissension among us."

"And the fine she has imposed," Kara continued, "would mitigate against her making the same kind of professionally unjustified interference in another employee's personal life."

"And there too, the Board and I would agree."

"But there's one thing I don't understand," Kara wondered.

"And that is?"

"My maximum value to CatCo would be measured by my salary over the next forty years to my retirement, right?"

Bingham nodded.

"That works out to about two million dollars. Yet Miss Grant is fining herself about four times more than I'm worth, even if you include raises and a promotion or two. It doesn't make sense."

"Very true. The Board agrees that Cat's disciplinary response seems to be unreasonable, and for exactly the reason you mention. It will also create a challenging political problem for the Board should she not change her rating back to at least Satisfactory."

Kara thought for a moment. "Is the political problem due to the fact that the salaries, bonuses and option grants are public information? And if the Board lets her rating stand, there'll be a lot of public discussion of what Miss Grant must have done wrong and even perhaps some stockholder pressure to remove her, if she explains the rating process and repeats the reasoning she gave you?"

"A very apt statement of the problem, Ms. Danvers. And that brings me to the request the Board wishes to make of you.

"And that is?"

"We would like you to meet with Cat, as our emissary, try to find out why she has taken this course of action and try to persuade her to at least moderate her rating change. You are the only possible person who might be effective in the assignment given that only you know what the underlying disagreement was about."

Kara felt as if she was sinking in quicksand.

"You will have to let me think about that for a day or so."

"I understand. Please let me know when you have come to a decision. But you realize that you will have to meet Cat before the weekend as the Annual Report must go to the printers next Monday?"

"Yes. And, on that note, I think I should say goodbye, and thank you for a lovely dinner, Mr. Bingham. I'll let you know my decision sometime tomorrow."

As Kara rose to leave, he rose with her.

"The pleasure was all mine, Ms. Danvers. I wish you a pleasant good evening."

As they walked out of the drawing room, Kara's phone rang. Excusing herself to her host, she answered Winn's call.

"Can you meet me at my place? I've got an idea of how to find my father."

"I'll be there as soon as I can."


	7. Boardroom Meeting

As Kara walked into the CatCo boardroom behind David Bingham, she reflected on what had happened since she had last seen him. After leaving the Gold Rush Club, she had flown to Winn's condo, learned where his father might be hiding, gone to the factory to seek him, tried to get the Toyman to see reason, and had nearly been killed. By the time she had freed herself from his quicksand trap, the Toyman was long gone.

As she flew back to her apartment, Kara realized that there was no way she could let Cat downgrade her own performance rating as she had proposed. If she did, the reason for Cat's action would soon be known all over National City. And no more than ten seconds after that, a huge media spotlight would shine directly on one Kara Danvers. Since that was a risk best avoided, she called David Bingham as soon as she flew in her window and changed.

"Mr. Bingham, it's Kara Danvers. I'm sorry for calling so late, but I've thought about your request, and I'll accept the commission to serve as the Board's emissary, if you still need me, that is."

"We still need you, Ms. Danvers, so thank you for agreeing to help. What time could you meet with us? Your lunch hour?

"As it happens, my new job doesn't involve a time clock, just deliverables, so to a certain extent, I can free up time whenever I need it and make it up later. I could make a meeting as early as tomorrow at 9 am, for example, or any other time during the day."

"I think we should meet in the CatCo boardroom as soon as possible. I will call you back as soon as I confirm Cat's availability. And since you are acting as a consultant to the Board in this matter, there will be a consideration for yourself as well. I believe a standard rate for consultants with unique knowledge or abilities, such as yourself, is five thousand dollars per hour."

"Mr. Bingham, I can't accept that kind of payment. I see that I contributed to this mess, you don't need to pay me for trying to clean it up.

"You contributed to this mess, Miss Danvers? I don't see how."

"The short answer is this: I was a bit careless with my words at one point, and it seems that Miss Grant has followed me in my error. If the Board needs to establish a contract with me for what it wants me to do, I'll take a one dollar fee, but no more than that."

"You are a tough negotiator, Ms. Danvers, but I accept your terms."

They hung up, and it was only a few moments before the board chair of CatCo called again. They would meet Cat at 9 am the next day.

"One more thing," Kara said.

"Yes?"

"To have a free hand in this discussion, I'll need to be able to tell Miss Grant anything you told me earlier this evening."

"Of course."

"And I'll also need it understood that I'd have the option not to report in detail on certain points. In a worst case scenario that would mean confessing failure, but even in some best case scenarios, I might be limited only to reporting that Miss Grant has reassessed and re-revised her rating. Will the Board still want me to go ahead on that basis?"

"I believe that the Board will be so happy with that outcome that it won't need the details, provided Cat does alter her rating to at least Satisfactory."

"Then I'll do my best to see that she does," Kara replied. "I'll email you a report after the meeting, and that will be the end of my involvement in the matter.

"That will be entirely sufficient, Ms. Danvers."

"Thank you, Mr. Bingham. Good night."

"Good night."

OOOOOOOOO

When they sat down in the boardroom, David Bingham opened his briefcase and handed a one-page contract to Kara. She read it signed it, handed it back, and he put it away and handed her a one-dollar bill. Then he called the HR junior manager who was serving temporarily as Cat's administrative assistant until a permanent replacement was hired.

"Please tell Miss Grant that David Bingham would like to see her in the boardroom," he said. A few seconds later he hung up. "She's on her way."

A few moments later, the door opened, and Cat Grant walked in.

Cat looked drawn and tense, and she was holding herself under rigid control. To Kara's expert eye, it was clear she had not had her morning latte. She barely looked at her former assistant.

"Good morning, David, good morning, Kara. David, why is Ms. Danvers here?"

"As you know, the Board wanted some additional information from you to come to a better understanding of the reasons why you have revised your Confidential Addendum to this year's Annual Report. But since we lack knowledge of the precipitating problem, which may be essential to the discussion, the Board consulted Ms. Danvers, since she, like you, has that knowledge. Like you, she has also been within her rights in refusing to divulge what went on between you. But, in our discussion, she mentioned a concern that she has, which is also the principal concern of the Board in this matter. Consequently, we feel that she would be the best person to serve as our agent in attempting to ease our minds since we are fully confident of her integrity. That said, is there anything I can get for either of you ladies as I go."

"Yes, please," Kara said. "Miss Grant will need a large latte from the Noonan's coffee shop down the street. Please tell them to heat it extra hot and bring it back here as fast as you can. And I'd like a large coffee, cream, one sugar."

Bingham looked at Cat Grant, who nodded.

"I will do that." And David Bingham left the room.

Cat Grant winced.

"Miss Grant, is something wrong?"

Cat Grant looked at her former assistant. Kara's usual warmth was still absent, but Cat saw visible concern for her in Kara's eyes.

"I didn't expect the Board to be this astute. I thought David would do this himself. Certainly, he left me under that impression when he called last night. Using you as his delegate is brilliant and brilliantly ironic."

"How so?"

"Last week I threaten to fire you, and today, depending on what you report, I could lose my job too. Did you think of that possibility, Kara? Is that why you accepted your role here? Is this your revenge? If so, that latte was a nice touch. Pretend to care for me, just like you did when you were my assistant, and then you'll slip the knife in my back?"

Kara closed her eyes for a moment at the pain in her former mentor's voice. "You know me better than that, Miss Grant."

"Do I? I wonder. But if you are not going to stab me in the back, then why are you here? What is this concern David mentioned?"

"I'm here for three reasons. First, I need to show you why you need to correct an overstatement you made to Mr. Bingham. Second, both the Board and I need to come to a better understanding of something that is puzzling us and rectify it if we can. And third, I, personally, need to understand something else, but that question isn't CatCo business, and we can take it up later if you will allow me to do so."

"What's the overstatement, Kara?"

"I agree that your interference in my private life was professionally unjustifiable, but I never thought for a second that it was 'personally despicable.'"

"Kara, you practically called me a slave trader to my face, and you were right. Violating your right to Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness is the act of a despicable person."

"No, Miss Grant. You are confusing motives with actions. Your act would have been the act of a despicable person only if you had consciously thought you had a legitimate right to act like a slave owner in the matter. But I know you didn't think of yourself as a slave owner. Given the extent of what you thought you knew, it was certainly not despicable to think about the net benefit to others of having me working on a full-time basis in the way that you suggested, and you had what you thought were good reasons to think in that direction. You merely threatened to use force to get me to do what you wanted when your arguments had not convinced me."

"Then why did you mention Jefferson and recite that so earnest quote from the Declaration of Independence? I mean, you do realize you've just refuted the third reason why you couldn't keep working for me?"

"My refusal to continue working for you arises not from your motives, but from your actions: even with the best of motives, you did cross a line by trying to force me to do what you wanted when you had no right or business to do that. And it's only the crossing of that line that I will not accept. But it's not fair to you to call your action the act of a despicable person, and I've already told Mr. Bingham so. I've also told him how my breach of your confidence made my resignation essential."

"No wonder David is so taken with you. Your integrity is practically visible. If you need me to, I will withdraw my self-characterization."

"Thank you. That will help. What's really puzzling both the Board and me is this. If you had let your initial rating stand, you would have received something more that twelve million dollars in bonus and stock options. But by revising your rating, you are throwing all that away merely because you mismanaged someone whose total salary expectation, assuming she spends her entire career at CatCo, will be about thirty to forty percent of that. Both I and the Board believe that your action is an overreaction. And it will have consequences, and those consequences are why I'm here."

"What do you mean, Kara?" Nothing in Cat Grant's voice or face showed her triumph. This scene was playing out almost exactly as she had anticipated.

"If the Annual Report is printed with your rating revision, how long to you think it will be before one of Dirk Armstrong's Board allies leaks your statement to Mr. Bingham, and I get tagged as the employee in question, and a blaze of publicity follows? Publicity like that, I don't want or need. So I'm primarily here to see if we can keep that from happening for my own sake, as well as wanting the best for both you and CatCo."

Cat nodded.

"Let's start with your reason why you changed your rating. But before I ask what it is, I should tell you that the Board is committed to dropping the topic without asking me for any details, both if you re-revise your rating to at least Satisfactory, or if I confess failure. In other words, what we say here, between us, is a deep background conversation."

"Kara, I can't change that rating."

"Why not, Miss Grant?"

"For one thing, my actions have almost certainly transformed Supergirl from a CatCo exclusive news source to a Daily Planet exclusive source. What impact would her loss have on CatCo?"

Kara thought through her mentor's question. Because she had helped Cat prepare the Annual Report she had reviewed CatCo's financials. In the last year, reprint rights to Supergirl stories had not only generated a million dollar revenue stream in themselves, but they had also been credited with prompting a huge increase in readership and an even larger increase in advertising revenues that came with it. If Supergirl changed her allegiance to the Daily Planet, all that would be lost.

Cat Grant saw Kara's eyes narrow as she thought the question through.

Then, inexplicably, the girl relaxed and grinned.

"That explains why you downgraded your rating. If Supergirl does decide to leave, it would be very bad. CatCo would go from a money making business to one that is losing money. But your statement raises two additional questions."

"And those are?"

"First, why didn't you tell that to the Board?"

"That would link your name with Supergirl in the mind of the Board members and whoever they leaked it to. And if the news got out, it would not only put you in a very uncomfortable position, but it would also guarantee that Supergirl would leave CatCo. She has made it very clear that she has an acute appreciation of the danger that linking your name with hers would place you in, and, knowing her, I suspect that she would object in the strongest terms to any such action. There is no way I was taking that risk. And your other question?"

"Thank you for thinking of me, I appreciate it. Second, has Supergirl decided to leave? I know she hadn't made her decision when she came to my place the other night."

"She hasn't said so, but she visited CatCo yesterday in connection with something else, and she didn't say she would stay."

"If she stays, would you re-revise your rating?"

"Only to Satisfactory. There is another issue."

"Then, since a Satisfactory rating will make the Board happy, I'll see if I can do something to make that happen."

"What could you do, Kara?"

"For one thing, I could call in Supergirl's favor."

"What favor is that?"

"As I told you when Supergirl visited me after meeting us at CatCo, she asked for my opinion on what she should do. But before I answered her question, I asked her why she was seeking my opinion. She replied that she felt somewhat responsible for the situation since she had made what she called "a rookie mistake" that might have left the door open for you to do what you did."

"Did you ask her what that mistake was?" Cat perked up.

"Yes. It seems that when Mr. Olsen set up your first interview with Supergirl, she somehow learned how you had pressured him to do so. She had considered warning you that any subsequent threatening your employees with termination if they couldn't get her to do what you wanted would end any working relationship to CatCo instantly. As she put it: "By threatening Mr. Olsen with termination, what Miss Grant was really doing was attempting to manipulate me," and she didn't like that. She had planned to announce that she wouldn't stand for anything like that on your part in future, but when she was in the moment, she decided not to raise the issue because she wanted very much to work with you. Although she takes no responsibility for your actions towards me, she told me that she regrets that she hadn't done what she could have done to reduce the odds of such actions on your part. So she said that if I ever needed her help I could call her."

"That's a nice ace to have up your sleeve."

"So I can ask her to stay as her favor to me, and if she commits to staying on by Friday night, there's no problem. What's the other issue?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It's good that we might get your rating back to Satisfactory, but getting it back to Above Satisfactory would be even better. Why not try for two for two?"

"This one you won't be able to fix, Kara."

"I won't know that until I hear what the problem is."

"Do you ever give up?"

"I don't like letting bad things happen without trying to fix them if I can."

A knock at the door interrupted the discussion. Kara moved to get up, but Cat stopped her.

"No, Kara, since you are the Board's delegate to this meeting, I work for you."

She got up, opened the door, accepted the drinks, handed Kara her coffee, and sat down.

"So what is this second issue?" Kara asked.

"Kara, you said that I was fining myself more than the total net worth to CatCo of the employee who has resigned. Your statement was not correct. It is, in my view, highly likely that the employee in question would have been worth far more to CatCo than ten million dollars over the course of her career."

Kara's blinked. "What do you mean, Miss Grant?"

"What's the biggest job of a Board of Directors, Kara?"

"To find the best executive team and then keep them working at peak performance, I guess."

"And how could the Board best keep me at peak performance?"

"Mr. Bingham asked me that question last night. I told him that since your great gift was in spotting opportunities nobody else sees and capitalizing on them, then the best thing for CatCo would be if you could be freed up to do that full time. But to do that you'd need somebody who could take the management of the divisions off your shoulders. He told me that you, the Board and the Senior Management Group have been looking for such a person for two years now with no luck. Are you saying that you think I could do it?"

Cat nodded.

"But I don't have anywhere near the experience such a person will need. Nor do I have the maturity."

"Perhaps not right now, but where will you be after a suitable grounding in some of the operating divisions? On the editorial side, you're already reviewing the division heads' outputs and proposals and correcting their mistakes before they get to me. And that's about half the role. On the financial side, you show a strong grasp of some key concepts even if you haven't yet worked in the area. Certainly, you are the most promising candidate we have yet seen by far. As for maturity, it's clear to both David and me that you have the capacity to grow in this area too. That's why losing such a candidate is more than ample justification for reducing my rating by one grade. The only way I would revise this downgrade is if you came back."

Kara shook her head. "I can't do that, Miss Grant. Even if I wanted to come back, I've made certain commitments, and I have to keep them. And I don't know how long they will last for."

"What commitments? Setting yourself up as a self-employed virtual assistant?" Miss Grant was scornful.

Kara raised an eyebrow. Cat Grant saw it and replied.

"I had Kelly in HR follow up with all the recruiting agencies in town. You've been offered over thirty jobs in the last five months, and you haven't taken one of them."

"Deep background, Miss Grant?" Kara asked.

Her mentor nodded.

"Things are sometimes not what they seem. What's going on with me is that I set up that website to help my sister's employer. It's not a real job. I'm taking a few weeks thinking about what I really want to do."

"Who does your sister work for?"

"The FBI. That website is helping with one of their long-term investigations: I don't think I should say anything else. But getting back to your downgrade, your answer increases my puzzlement on the personal question I mentioned. So before I go, can we talk about that matter for a moment?"

Miss Grant nodded.

"When you first thought I was Supergirl, you seemed OK and almost accepting it, even joking about it in some ways. Then, without warning, you became so totally and adamantly hostile to the idea of Supergirl working at CatCo. I don't understand why you changed. And now you tell me that I was under consideration for eventual promotion to CatCo's number two executive position. That makes your change even harder for me to understand. Wanting me as your number two doesn't seem to go with pushing me out of the company the way you did. What were you really up to?"

"You'll need to try to see the matter from my perspective."

Kara nodded.

"As I saw matters, it appeared that you were Supergirl, in addition to being Kara Danvers. And CatCo's number two cannot be somebody living that kind of double life."

"Why not, Miss Grant?"

"Because CatCo's number two will have to participate in far more editorial meetings than my assistant does."

Kara raised an eyebrow, puzzled, but she nodded. The only editorial meetings Cat took her assistant to were the main weekly planning meeting on Monday morning, but her mentor had at least five other shorter meetings every day with section editors to discuss particular stories.

Miss Grant was still speaking, "What would Supergirl/Kara do if a meteorite were reported heading for National City while she was in an editorial meeting? As my assistant, you weren't in most of those meetings, and so Supergirl/Kara could keep her cover intact when she disappeared to save the day, but a little thought should tell you that Cat Grant's number two won't be able to get away with running out of too many meetings before somebody makes an accurate guess. And if CatCo's number two gets outed as Supergirl, what would that do to CatCo's reputation?"

Kara nodded, soberly, "I see what you mean." And she did. With i-Phones and Androids so widely used, Kara's previous experience had taught her that it was almost a certainty that whenever Supergirl showed up she would be on camera within fifteen seconds and on a live TV network news break within a minute. And since every CatCo conference room held a bank of three TV screens constantly playing breaking news, almost every Kara Danvers' disappearance from an editorial meeting would be almost instantly followed by a video of Supergirl showing up. And, sooner rather than later, one of the very intelligent and curious CatCo editors that Kara had abandoned would make the same connection between the two women that Cat already had. But Cat was still speaking and Kara focused again on her mentor.

"So I needed to force the person I thought you were into coming out to me, and I did so by means of a bluff. I knew you loved (and both women internally winced at Cat's choice of tense) working at CatCo, so I created a situation where there was no net gain for you to hide your identity from me. I expected one of two things to happen. Either you would tell me you were Supergirl, or you would tell me you were Kara Danvers and you would follow either confession by asking for your job again. If you admitted that you were Supergirl, I'd have committed to keeping your secret, allowed you to stay on at CatCo and moved you into a reporter's slot so you could be out and about with nobody missing you or matching your appearances and disappearances with Supergirl's activities. But I wouldn't have moved you into an editorial or policy position. CatCo could survive the discovery that Supergirl was one of its reporters, just as the Washington Post survived Janet Cooke, but CatCo would take an absolutely massive hit to its credibility if it became known that Supergirl was in a position to set editorial policy. On the other hand, if you had denied that you were Supergirl, then I would have fired you because CatCo can't afford to have a liar on its editorial staff. But what I never expected to happen was for you to prove that you couldn't possibly be Supergirl."

"Surprise." Kara gave her former boss a lopsided grin. "But you know, Miss Grant, there is a real proof that I couldn't possibly be Supergirl that has been staring you in the face for a few weeks now. It's a pity both of us forgot it. If we'd remembered it, it could have saved us from this whole mess."

"Oh? What proof is that?"

"Supergirl is known to be invulnerable to bullets, right?"

Cat nodded.

"Yet you saw me get cut by a piece of glass. Which means that I can't possibly be Supergirl."

Cat's jaw dropped. Then she nodded again,"You're right, of course. But when you displayed your hearing talent, I completely forgot about that. And the two of you do look so much alike. What are the odds on that?"

"No bigger than the odds that the two almost identical looking boys I knew in Midvale were not related. It was hard to tell them apart, but Tim and Danny weren't related in any way. But that's spilled milk: unless you can think of anything else, I think we're done here."

Cat nodded.

"So I'll ask James to get a message to Supergirl and we'll see what happens. It might help if I can tell her that someone besides you will be her new CatCo contact."

"That might be a very good idea." Cat agreed. "At least for a while. And while Mr. Olsen might do very well as Supergirl's contact, I have what might be a better suggestion, one that could benefit everyone involved."

"What's that, Miss Grant?"

"Why don't you be Supergirl's contact? You wouldn't have to work for me: you'll be working for yourself. CatCo will simply hire virtual assistant Kara Danvers to interview people of interest to us on a piecework basis. Your business gets a client, a useful corroborative detail, which will give artistic verisimilitude to an otherwise bald and unconvincing narrative, while not taking up too much of your time. Supergirl gets a CatCo contact who is not me, who she knows and perhaps trusts a little, and Kara Danvers gets a chance to see if she wants to be a reporter, all while being paid and given on the job training by Mr. Olsen or me. And we'll do it with the understanding that when you are ready, we'll give you a glowing reference letter that will get you hired anywhere."

"You assume that I'll succeed as a reporter, Miss Grant."

"Kara, knowing you and your skills as I do, there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that you will be an outstanding reporter. You'd be wasted doing anything else, except perhaps the number two role here. Even without training, which James and I will give you, you have the most important ability of all."

"And what's that?"

"People want to talk to you."

"What makes you say that?"

"Ask your little friend the computer hobbit what happened when I put him on the spot last night."

"I'll do that. And I'll also think about your suggestion."

"Don't think too long, Kara."

"Why not?"

"Because if you say yes before Friday, I'll restore my rating at least one grade, even if Supergirl says no.

"I see," Kara replied. "If I say yes, CatCo still has me available, and you hope down the road to get me back on staff?"

Cat smiled. "Let's just say that at the very least, I'd like to show you my best to get the bad taste of my worst out of your mind."

Kara rose to leave, "Then I'll let you know my decision by Friday morning. Goodbye, for now, Miss Grant."

"See you later, Kara."

As two women walked out of the boardroom and into the elevator lobby six or seven black jacketed men and women got off the elevator and, without stopping at the reception desk, started to walk into the newsroom.

"Excuse me, Agent Chase, but what are you doing back here?" Cat asked.

The FBI team didn't stop walking. As Miss Grant kept pace, Kara followed along.

"Because we need to speak to Mr. Schott again, Miss Grant," Agent Chase replied, "and his manager said he hadn't come in. We also have a warrant to search his computer. We're looking for communication between Winn and his father. We believe they might be working together."

"No, Winn would never do that," Kara said.

"And you are?" asked Agent Chase.

"Kara Danvers, I've known Winn for two years. He's my best friend; I'd trust him with my life, and I know how he feels about his father. And we have a lunch date today."

"Yet, he's nowhere to be found. And today of all days." Agent Chase turned to one of her colleagues. "Confirm tactical sweep of the Convention Hall."

"What's happening at the Convention Hall?" Kara asked.

"The National City Toy Convention, where Mr. Schott, Senior's former boss, the man he hates most in the world, is getting an award."

"Oh," said Kara as she turned to leave.

"Where are you going, Kara?" Cat asked.

"To ask Mr. Olsen to get a message to Supergirl."

"Good idea, Kara. Chop-chop, please. And since you're going there, would you mind telling Mr. Olsen for me to get one of his photojournalists to the Convention Hall? I think we may be able to get ahead of a breaking story."


	8. A New Beginning

Within ten minutes, Supergirl launched herself from the CatCo building's roof on a direct line to the Convention Hall. Kara had spent the intervening time in James Olsen's office, first briefing him on the messages he would be expected to have passed on to Supergirl, then checking the plans for the Convention Hall and the schedule of the National City Toy Convention. She also called her sister and asked her to tip off the Hall's security staff that an attempt on Dunholz's life might be imminent, that security should be increased around him, and that Supergirl was inbound to help. But instead of ending the call, she kept the line open and told Alex to do likewise.

She had a major advantage. She knew Winn's heartbeat, so she knew where he was even now. So as she flew into the Convention Hall over the heads of the startled gatekeepers and security staff and into the main auditorium where Dunholz was speaking, she had time to take a quick glance with her x-ray vision in all directions and found the Toyman sitting one floor below her next to some kind of electric appliance. As she raised her head, she saw Winn approaching the stage with a gun in his hand, so with a final burst of speed, she placed herself between the two men just as Winn fired.

Naturally, the bullets bounced off her.

"He has ten bombs in toys spread out all over the convention!" Winn yelled.

Kara looked down. The Toyman pressed a detonator, and a 5-second countdown began.

Supergirl flew up to the roof, glanced around and spotted the locations of the bombs.

"Everybody move, run this way!" she yelled, pointing away from the bombs.

The crowd stampeded in the indicated direction as Supergirl first used her heat vision to trigger sprinklers throughout the hall, and then her freeze breath to create a wall of ice to contain the explosions. When the bombs went off, their blasts were largely contained, although those nearest the blast, like Winn, were knocked to the floor.

But Supergirl hadn't waited. Using her x-ray vision she followed the Toyman as he fled to the nearest exit. As he left the building, she was directly above him. A quick dive and grab and she held him in a full nelson hold. Taking care not to break his neck, she flew toward the Van Kull Penitentiary.

"Call Van Kull Penitentiary and tell them Supergirl is inbound with the Toyman in custody. I'll touch down in their main courtyard once the guards are in position."

A few seconds later and Kara heard her sister's voice in her earpiece:

"Van Kull says 'Thanks.' They also say they're ready for you, Supergirl, but when you get there, don't land. Just hover a couple of feet off the ground until they can chain his legs, and then come down."

"OK, got it, thanks."

On the way to the prison, Supergirl had an idea.

"Mr. Schott," she said, "when we met last night, you had some machine running that generated a lot of white noise. Because of that, I couldn't clearly hear your heartbeat when we met. Now that we have flown together, I know your heartbeat, and I will recognize it, locate where you are, and home in on you anywhere within a 500-mile radius. I'm going to be monitoring your location 24/7, and I'll know before the guards do if you leave the Penitentiary. So don't bother trying, because you'll only find me waiting for you if you do."

As she descended to a hover just above the main courtyard, she found a few guards waiting. After the team had secured Toyman's legs, she dropped to the ground and left Toyman to the guards. They handcuffed him and led him away.

A tall man in a business suit smiled at Supergirl.

"I'm Warden Tomkins. Thanks for bringing him back to us. We'll make sure he doesn't trouble you again."

"I'm glad to be able to help."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Back in the air, Supergirl called James and asked if he could meet her that night at her apartment. She also called Alex, repeated her request and also asked her to bring Hank along. She then asked her sister to patch her through to the NCPD's Central division. When she found herself speaking to the Divisional desk clerk, she asked if Winn was under arrest. She was told that Winn's story had already been checked out and that since he had indeed been operating under duress, his counsel, a Ms. Lane, had arranged his release on bail until the formalities could be taken care of. So she called Winn and asked him to join them. She stopped at her favorite Chinese place to get everybody's favorite dishes, and then she flew home arriving a few minutes before the first of her guests.

Winn was the first to arrive, so she told him the full story of how she had captured his father. Winn managed a grin and a "Thank you."

After the others arrived and they began to eat, the group rehashed the events of the day. Afterward, Kara asked for their attention.

"As you know, I had a particular reason for asking all of you to meet with me. Here's the situation: I've left CatCo because it was too dangerous to stay after Miss Grant accused me of being Supergirl. But now that we've proved that I'm not Supergirl, she's done something that I didn't expect."

"What's that?" Alex asked.

Kara explained about the CatCo bonus system and Cat's rating ploy without going into the amounts involved.

"After we clean up here, Supergirl will be flying to CatCo. She'll tell Miss Grant her view of what happened yesterday and today, and she'll tell her that she'll stay on with CatCo. That will take care of one rating downgrade."

Then she explained Cat's idea of acting as Supergirl's CatCo contact, and what Cat would do if she agreed.

"That's a neat bit of blackmail," Hank commented. "Cat Grant knows you want her rating back where it should be, so you don't face a publicity storm."

"Yes, but she's also right that Kara would be a great reporter," said Winn. "If I ever were to go public with my story, Kara, I'd want you to be the interviewer, because I know you'd try to see things from my perspective."

"Winn's right," James put in, "Kara has all the tools and the aptitude for a reporter's job. With this opportunity, she'd get the seasoning. Cat's probably the best mentor of journalists in the country, and I've helped a few people make some progress in their careers. And I think the dangers are manageable."

"What do you mean?" asked Alex.

"If Kara were working at CatCo she'd be going and coming on Supergirl business in front of people who'd know to the second when Kara leaves CatCo and when Supergirl shows up. But if Kara asks to work from home, which she'll have to do anyway because of her "FBI job" nobody at CatCo will know her timings. That totally eliminates one of the two major dangers right off the bat. The other major danger arises from Cat getting too close a look at both Supergirl and Kara Danvers. But if Kara chooses to work with me, rather than Cat, while Kara is interviewing Supergirl, Cat doesn't see either of them on a daily basis for awhile. She could even work with Cat by email. It's perfect."

Winn nodded instantly. After thinking Cat Grant's idea through for potential problems, Hank and Alex agreed that James' observations made sense and the conversation turned to other things for a while. As the party broke up, Kara asked Winn to stay behind for a moment.

After the others had left, Kara walked Winn through the information she planned to give Miss Grant to see if he had any objections. Winn had no problems with her planned info dump and so when he left, Kara changed again to Supergirl and flew back to CatCo.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The Girl of Steel found Miss Grant standing on her balcony, looking out over National City.

"Well, hello, Supergirl. What brings you here?"

"Good evening, Miss Grant. I thought you might like to get my perspective on what happened at the Convention Hall this afternoon."

"Thank you. I'll be happy to have it. Please join me."

As Supergirl landed on her balcony, Cat asked her the burning question, as she gestured her visitor to a chair and sat down herself and picked up her tablet.

"Does this mean CatCo is still your preferred media outlet?"

"Yes. I like to give people some chances to live up to their best. And you did send the message that I would likely find Toyman at the Convention Hall."

Cat was surprised, "I did?"

"That's what Mr. Olsen said."

"Actually, I didn't send that message. That was Ms. Danvers. But that's something we can talk about later. So what happened at the Convention Hall?"

"Well, the story really started when I met the FBI and your Mr. Schott, (who I'll call Winn, to save time), yesterday. His father, the Toyman, had left a message for Winn to meet him at the abandoned Old Pier Amusement Arcade. When Winn went there, he was wired for sound and backed up by the FBI tac team you met yesterday. I was also in the loop, even though I was ten thousand feet up. Before Win arrived, I checked out the Arcade with my X-ray vision and saw nobody in it. So we figured that the Toyman had left another message there for Winn. But when he went inside Winn saw and heard the Toyman."

"How was that possible?" Cat asked.

"The Toyman used a holographic image which we found out when the tac team attempted to take him down with rifle shots. Then he triggered some poison gas bombs. So I had to fly down, make a hole in the roof, breathe in all the gas, then fly away and exhale when I was far enough away from National City."

"A couple of hours after that," Supergirl continued, "Winn figured out where his father might be hiding from something his father had used to get messages to him. So I went there and found his father all right, but I also discovered that the Toyman had prepared a rather nasty ambush for me. By the time I could get out of his trap he was gone. That brings us to today."

"What was the trap, Supergirl?"

"I'd like to reserve that. I don't want to give anybody ideas."

"So noted. Please continue."

"Today I was doing a mid-city patrol when I got Ms. Danvers' message. Can the next bit be on deep background? It has a detail that I would prefer that the bad guys didn't know."

"Certainly."

"Under most circumstances, when I meet people, I can hear their heartbeats. When I met the Toyman last night, he had a machine operating in his factory that generated an above average amount of white noise, which made that impossible. But I had met Winn yesterday, and I knew his heartbeat, so even as I was flying to the Convention Hall, I knew where he was. We can go back on record now. As I flew into the Hall, I used my x-ray vision to thoroughly scan the building. And I found the Toyman one floor down in a small storage room with some kind of electrical device next to his chair. I was able to fly directly to the stage in the Kilman Auditorium and stop Winn from shooting Chester Dunholz, the man who Toyman thinks stole his toy designs. But, as your Ms. Lane has probably told you, Winn was under duress, his father had set ten bombs within the hall and given Winn an impossible choice: either kill Dunholz or everybody dies. So the moment Winn shot his last bullet at me, he yelled that there were ten bombs ready to go off. So I looked for them, spotted them, used my heat vision to start all the sprinklers, pointed the crowd to exits that took them away from the bombs, then used my freeze breath to freeze the water and create a wall of ice to contain the explosions."

"Which, thankfully, it did, mostly. One of Mr. Olsen's photojournalists got there just in time to get the whole scene on camera," Cat said.

"And then I tracked the Toyman as he headed for an exit. When he came out the door, I was above and behind him. Then it was a simple matter to dive, lift him off the ground and fly him to the Van Kull penitentiary, where the guards were happy to get him back."

"You make it sound so easy."

"It was – for a Kryptonian living on Earth. I can't really take any credit."

"Well, thank you for the story Supergirl," Cat commented as she finished typing her notes. "Have you spoken to Ms. Danvers today?"

"She's next on my list. Why do you ask?"

"Because I wonder if I could ask you to help me with something?"

"What's that?" asked Supergirl.

"Can I ask you to treat the rest of this conversation as a deep background confidence?"

Supergirl raised her eyebrows, "A journalist asking me to keep something confidential? OK, Miss Grant, I'll keep my lip zipped."

"I don't know whether Mr. Olsen told you, but Ms. Danvers resigned the day after our talk last week."

"No, he didn't say anything about that. And why did you think she sent the message?"

"She was meeting with me today about something connected with her resignation when the FBI arrived and mentioned Mr. Schott's disappearance. Since she was going to see Mr. Olsen to ask him to send a message to you on another matter, I presume she told you to head to the Convention Hall."

"But that brings me to another point. There are many reasons, most of which you won't need to know, why I don't want to let Ms. Danvers' leave us without making strenuous efforts to win her back. But, one of the big reasons I don't want to lose her is that she not only has the potential to be an outstanding reporter, she also has the potential to rise to COO and possibly CEO of this company some day. She's highly astute, has total control of the English language, she's memorized all the style guides, her news judgment is years ahead of her contemporaries, and she's very, very skilled at dealing with people."

"So why did you threaten to fire her?"

"It was a bluff, Supergirl."

"A bluff?"

"A bluff that turned on the 'fact' that I 'knew' she was you. CatCo cannot afford to have a Kara Danvers who was also Supergirl in a position where she can set editorial policy on Supergirl. It would be the textbook example of a conflict of interest, and our reputation would take a major hit if Supergirl and Kara Danvers were found to be one and the same. But CatCo could survive one of its' reporters being outed as Supergirl. So before I started her on the career development track to the executive position, I had to know for sure whether or not she was you. So I set up a situation where there was no net gain for her to hide her double identity. If she was Supergirl and admitted it, well and good. I would then have told her I had been bluffing, committed to keeping her secret and moved her to a reporter's track where her comings and goings would be less visible and the danger of a CatCo employee spotting two many coincidences between a Ms. Danvers departure and a Supergirl arrival would be mitigated. And if Ms. Danvers had continued in her lie, I would have fired her, because we can't afford liars on our editorial staff. But I never expected in a million years that she could prove that she wasn't you. Or that after she had done so, she would up and quit. She's already found a new job working for the FBI in some hush-hush investigation."

"So why are you telling me all this?"

"Two reasons. First of all, Ms. Danvers got into the FBI through her sister who is an FBI agent. I googled her sister this afternoon and found a picture of her which I recognized. And you know her, too."

"I do?"

"Do you remember the FBI agent who led the team that took Lesley Willis away that night?"

"Yes."

"That's Kara's sister. What can you tell me about her?"

"I haven't worked with her much. She's a double Ph.D. in biomedicine and biochemistry so she's asked me a few questions about Kryptonian biology out of professional curiosity. She also has the rep of someone who never gives up on anything."

"What's a double Ph.D. doing running around as an FBI agent?"

"I asked her that. She was recruited in college. Some insider knew her. Normally, the bureau recruits the occasional specialist in various fields as consultants, but Alex insisted upon undergoing the full Special Agent training. And your other reason for telling me this?"

"Because I'd like you to help me keep Kara in touch with CatCo in a way that might lead to her coming back in a while."

Supergirl was taken aback: "Miss Grant, have you ever heard the story of the Jewish youth who murders his parents, and then asks the court for leniency because he is an orphan? I mean, I understand exactly why Ms. Danvers left, and if I'd been in her shoes, I might have done likewise. If I'm pushed to take sides here, why do you think I won't take hers?"

Suddenly the Girl of Steel stopped speaking.

"Your heartbeat didn't move any faster at all when I said that. So you must think you have an ace up your sleeve. What is it, Miss Grant?"

"Well, for one thing, I am known for my chutzpah. For another, Ms. Danvers and I submitted CatCo's Annual Report to the Board for their review last week, and it goes to the printers and then to the shareholders next Monday. Based on targets the board set, up until last Friday, I could honestly rate my performance as Above Satisfactory as I had met or exceeded all my assigned targets. But after last the events of last Thursday evening, I had to downgrade my rating to Unsatisfactory, since my professionally unjustified and personally unacceptable interference in Ms. Danvers' private life not only cost CatCo that lady's services but also threatened CatCo's relationship with you. Now that you've committed to staying on, I can honestly upgrade my rating but only to Satisfactory, but this still leaves the Board and Ms. Danvers facing a serious problem."

"How so?"

"Because even if my rating is Satisfactory, the fact that it is below what I deserve would be leaked by one of Dirk Armstrong's Board allies, together with the reason why I downgraded my rating in the first place. It would be very easy for such a person to identify Ms. Danvers as the relevant employee. In the absence of solid data about the nature of our disagreement, which neither Ms. Danvers or I will make public under any circumstances, I, the Board, and Ms. Danvers will all face a great deal of adverse publicity which would be best avoided."

"I've told Ms. Danvers that I would re-revise this part of the rating under one of two conditions, either if she comes back on staff, which she rejects, or if she agrees to be employed by CatCo through her new business as your new CatCo contact. While she interviews you, you get the benefit of being interviewed by someone just learning her craft and not as likely to try tripping you up. You also don't have to see me unless you want to, which might make it more palatable for you to still work with CatCo. And you get the benefit of not having to feel at least partly responsible for the media spotlight that Ms. Danvers will find unwelcome since you never warned me about your dislike of my manipulating you by means of threatening my employees."

From the look Supergirl gave her, Cat knew that the Girl of Steel was both abashed and infuriated by her last line.

"And finally, instead of you paying back Ms. Danvers the favor you owe her by doing something that is so open-ended, I'll owe you a favor, which you can call in at any time for anything," Cat concluded.

Suddenly, Supergirl laughed.

"A favor from Cat Grant. Well, well, well, that may be something worth having. I'll talk to Ms. Danvers. I'll commit to liking the idea, but I won't push it if she's unwilling."

"That will be fine, Supergirl. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Then I should be going. Unless you have anything else?"

Cat shook her head.

"Then I'll say good night, Miss Grant."

By the time Cat had echoed her remark, Supergirl was gone.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Two hours later, Kara Danvers called.

"Hello, Miss Grant. I've thought it over, and I'll accept your proposal. I've already told Supergirl."

"Hello, Kara, thank you for letting me know. I'll tell David that I will withdraw my amended Addendum. Who do you want to work with: me, or Mr. Olsen."

"Mr. Olsen, I think, at first. He'll be a change of pace."

"That will be fine, Kara; I'll let him know. Good night."

"Good night, Miss Grant."


	9. A Strange Visitor

As a (former) professional Administrative Assistant, Kara Danvers was a compulsive creator and updater of lists. To do lists, appointment lists, event planning lists, name the list, and she had it, and she had it memorized. Including the list of things that would follow a termination in the editorial department of CatCo Worldwide Media.

Which meant that Kara knew exactly what to expect when she left her job. The HR people would tick off the items on the termination list, one by one, within a day. Resignation received: yes, Form 232 received and countersigned by the manager in question: yes (even though in this case the manager was Cat Grant, CEO), payroll advised: yes, keycard canceled: yes, computer files searched, saved, or destroyed as determined by the manager: yes, computer profile cancelled: yes. Cell phone returned: not applicable, the former employee had used her own. Insurance termination notice sent . . .

But now it was a week after her departure, and Kara still had not received an envelope from CatCo's insurance company telling her that her medical and dental coverage would end with the following month.

So she called a friend in CatCo's HR department to find out what was up. Kelly Regan had started at CatCo not long before Kara had arrived and she had been the HR staffer who had conducted her onboarding briefing. Within a few days, they found that both of them liked Noonan's breakfasts, Kara on a daily basis and Kelly on an alternating basis, and so at least once a month they would have breakfast together.

"Hey, Kelly, it's Kara Danvers. How are you doing?"

"Doing fine, Kara, what can I do for you?"

"I haven't seen the notice of insurance cancellation from PBC yet, and I thought I'd check in since it usually goes out automatically."

"Not so much anymore. Miss Grant has started something new and things are a little different now."

"Oh? What's happening?"

"You haven't got the letter? I gave it to Miss Grant, myself."

"Uh-oh," thought Kara.

It seemed like her former boss was up to something.

Again.

"What am I supposed to get?"

"It's a little complicated to explain in a phone call. Can we maybe get together for breakfast tomorrow?"

"Sure. I'll see you at Noonan's. Usual time?"

"Yes. Bye for now."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

There were always things going wrong in National City and that night Supergirl was busy. Nothing major, just several fights and attempted muggings that she stopped and some car crashes that she helped clean up. The most serious crash was a collision on the Otto Binder bridge that left a National City Transit bus teetering on the edge of the bridge deck. She was able to get there quickly and lift the bus out of harm's way and check the passengers for injuries. One girl had a broken arm and Supergirl airlifted her to the hospital.

When she got home, she prepared an account of what had happened that featured a few Supergirl quotes. She sent her story, along with a text message to James that she would drop by for his feedback early next morning. Then she went to bed.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anyone looking for the busiest place in downtown National City on a weekday morning at six-forty-five needed only to peek into Noonan's coffee shop. Kara walked in, navigated the challenge of flying busboys and fast moving customers with the ease of long experience, caught the eye of Rose, her favorite waitress and moved to the side table where Kelly was waiting.

"So how are things in HR?" she asked her friend.

"I'm not in HR at the moment. I've been temporarily seconded to editorial to serve as Miss Grant's Administrative Assistant."

"Why?"

"My boss wants a better read on the kind of person we need to hire. Before you got here, the turnover was extreme."

Kara nodded. "So how do you like working for Miss Grant?"

"I didn't want to take the assignment, but Joanna insisted. I don't know how you managed to put up with her for so long, but at least Joanna promised me that I could shout back at Cat if she got unbearable."

Kara raised an eyebrow. Kelly Regan was the calmest, fairest person she knew, but Joanna Braithwaite, the boss of HR, was one of the few people who took no guff from Cat Grant.

"I haven't had to do that yet, but I look forward to telling Cat that I don't work for her. She never stops pushing me. I think she either wants to find out what she has to do to break me or she's angry at somebody else and taking it out on me."

"I think you're looking at the person she thinks she's angry at," Kara commented, wryly.

"I know I am. What did you do to piss her off?"

"I left."

"Lucky you. I've told Joanna that I'm quitting if she doesn't find a replacement for me in less than six weeks. I've forwarded to her the memo you prepared on taking care of Cat, which I think is a good enough guideline, but Joanna wants my own impressions after working with her for awhile. So I'm stuck. Can we get together say once a week, so I can vent?"

"It'll get better," Kara encouraged her friend, as Rose brought her usual breakfast of sticky buns. "But tell me about this insurance change."

"Well, last week, Cat and the Board launched a new initiative. As you know, CatCo has a high turnover. Most are people who don't meet our standards, but sometimes we lose people we don't want to lose. So now what happens is that when somebody leaves who we would be glad to rehire, our records don't say that they resigned. Instead, they show up as being on an indefinite leave of absence, and their insurance is covered for up to a year or until they let us know that they have a new job. As it happens, Miss Grant put you on the first list of employees that would be granted LOA status, and I prepared the letter explaining what that meant for your insurance myself and gave it to Miss Grant. But there's an odd thing about your insurance."

"What's that?" Kara asked.

"When I checked with Payroll to make sure your file was reactivated, I saw that your insurance payments aren't being paid from the usual CatCo Payroll account."

"Who's paying them then?" Kara had a sneaking suspicion, but she needed to know for certain before she did anything.

"I think I'd better not say," said Kelly as she looked up and pointed her thumb in the same direction.

"Got you," said Kara.

Another tie that her ex-boss refused to cut. She would have to go and see Miss Grant.

"I'm going to the washroom," Kelly broke into her thoughts. "Do you mind getting Miss Grant's latte order for me?"

"Sure, no problem," Kara said, as she left the table and headed for the lineup in front of the barista. A few seconds later, her sister Alex walked into Noonan's and leaned against the wall behind her.

"Hi, Kara," the barista said, as she saw her.

"Hi, Josie, is Miss Grant's latte ready?" she asked the barista.

"Give me another few seconds."

"I'm sorry," said a sandy-haired young man standing at the counter as she moved past him to get some of the accessories to the daily order.

"Excuse me?" she asked without breaking step.

"I said I'm sorry that you have to work for Cat Grant. I hear she's a piece of work." The stranger had followed her.

"A reputation she proudly fosters," Kara replied.

"Is she really as horrible as everyone says? You know, breathes fire, eats babies?"

Kara retraced her steps to pick up the latte. "Miss Grant is tough, but she's amazing not only at her job but as a person. She's pretty . . . badass."

"Did she pay you to say all that?" The stranger had followed her again.

Kara put her nose a little higher in the air. "No. Maybe one day you'll meet her and form your own opinion, instead of listening to rumors."

"Well, she's very lucky to have you," said the stranger.

Kara turned and looked at him. He grinned at her and for a few seconds, she grinned back.

"I think that latte's ready." Alex interrupted them.

"Oh," Kara said.

"You'd better run," the stranger commented as he turned away and left.

Kara picked up the latte and moved away from the counter as Alex joined her.

"Please tell me you realize that guy was flirting with you?"

"I would not call that flirting. He was friendly," Kara countered.

"You're hopeless. And what are you doing picking up your ex-boss' latte? You don't work for her anymore, remember?"

"No, but a friend of mine does. We had breakfast together, and Kelly asked me to get Cat`s order while she went to the washroom. Here's Kelly now." With that, Kara handed off the order to Kelly and introduced her sister. Then Kelly left as Alex heard a newscaster read a newsbreak about the crowds expected at an upcoming anti-alien rally.

"DEO duty calls," Alex muttered as she left Noonan's without the coffee she'd come in for. Kara walked thoughtfully in her wake.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Kara didn't want to arrive at CatCo at the start of the day, so she did a couple of errands in the area before she walked into CatCo Plaza and was swiftly carried upwards. She was exchanging a bit of banter with Lucille at the reception desk when Miss Grant walked by to pick up her messages.

"Well, well, look who's here. The prodigal returns."

"No, Miss Grant, it isn't a return. I'm here to get Mr. Olsen's feedback on a Supergirl report I submitted last night, and I'm also here to cut an apron string. HR tells me I'm on a list of people who've been given Leave of Absence status?"

Miss Grant turned to her former assistant.

"Yes. But let's talk in the conference room."

As they moved into the conference room, Miss Grant shut the door, gestured Kara to a chair and sat down.

"You were correctly informed about your status, and if you are here to ask me to take you off Leave of Absence status, the answer is no. That status is something we have put together for people we wish had not left us and would welcome back instantly. It was not designed for you alone, although it was something that you have fully earned and that you deserve."

"Maybe so, but I've also learned that the extended insurance payments for me are not being made from the normal Payroll account. I need to find out why that is."

"As you will remember, CatCo has one of the country's top five health and benefit plans. Most of our LOA's insurance coverage will terminate after one year or after they get their next job, but since your resignation was entirely my fault, I have set things up differently in your case. Your plan payments will still be covered until and unless you join one of the other four companies in the top five list because I will not permit you to suffer any avoidable loss from leaving us other than your quixotic departure from a job and a future that is and would have been perfectly suited to you. Even if I have to pay the premiums personally, which I don't mind doing in the least."

As Kara fought to regain control of her voice, the conference room's breaking news screen suddenly interrupted them with a repeat of the clip of Senator Crane's arrival. Miss Grant took advantage of the newsbreak to change the subject before Kara could get a word in edgewise.

"And behold the lightning rod for bigots, hippies, and aliens, and yes, that is the order in which I detest them. But since our heretofore top reporter has made the mistake of dumping CatCo for a cash grab at Vanity Fair, (and his ruin will be swift and merciless thanks to our new general counsel, Lucy Lane, who will serve him a lawsuit by the end of today), I have been forced to send James to the anti-alien rally, despite the fact that we knew you were coming in. So you'll have to put up with me editing your story this time. Let's see what you have."

Kara handed over her few pages, and her former boss quickly read them. Soon an array of comments, corrections, and suggestions for improvement was coming at her.

"You didn't ask Supergirl how she stopped those fist fights, what she did with the fighters, or how she did triage on those bus passengers."

"I asked her the last question. She didn't want to answer that except on background because it would tell bad guys something she doesn't want them to know."

"Good. You also didn't ask what that teenager with the broken arm looked like when she first saw her. That's an important detail; it gets our readers closer to the people involved."

By the time Miss Grant had finished her critique, the story was much stronger. As the two women left the conference room, Kara asked a question that puzzled her.

"Miss Grant, if you hate bigots more than aliens, why are you giving Senator Crane so much attention? She's horrible."

Cat stopped to pick up a couple of new messages at the executive reception desk, then turned to walk to her office, passing a departing Kelly Regan who was headed for the break room. "Because, Kara, while bigots will always take the gold medal on the podium of my contempt, they make excellent click bait. Also, the more they talk, the more they sabotage themselves, it's a magical implosion happening right before our very . . . Who is in my office?" as she noticed the sandy-haired man looking out of her window.

Since Kelly was away from the desk that had been hers, Kara said, "I'll call security."

Miss Grant said, "No. . . . Don't." She paused for a second and ventured, "Adam?"

Kara froze in place as the man turned around and she recognized him from their meeting in Noonan's. He said "Hi," in a hesitant voice.

Cat Grant's "Hi," in reply was equally hesitant.

"I'm sorry to show up while you're working."

"That's not a problem; that's not a problem at all. Are you, are you OK? Why today?"

The young man smiled. "I got your letter," he said, as he pulled it from his pocket.

"My letter," Cat replied, dumbfounded. She turned and looked at Kara who grimaced and turned away. And that told Cat everything she needed to know.

"My letter, of course. I'm so glad that you're here."

Her son walked towards her.

"Thanks for reaching out."

"There is just so much to say, but I have a million things to do right now."

"Yeah, I figured. I'm in town for a few days. Are you free for dinner?"

"I will make myself free."

"Thanks." He handed her the letter. "Have your cheerleader email me," he said as waved to Kara, and left.

When he was out of earshot, Cat turned and looked at her former assistant, and with a gesture invited her into her office.

"Kara, what have you done?"

"You've been writing a lot of letters, but then throwing them away, and the day of the Board meeting you told me that you would give up CatCo because you wouldn't have Adam suffering the kind of the press frenzy that might follow the email hack. That day you threw one . . . I won't say at my head, but in my general direction, and I read it, saw it was for Adam, and maybe I finished it for you."

Cat's breath was the sound of a woman who had forgotten how to breathe.

"I know, I know, this is really bad. I didn't think he would just show up . . . "

"Who told you to think? You wrote to my son. Now, get out. If you hadn't resigned, I'd fire you this instant. Except I couldn't, of course, because you'd have a job with me for life. But I promise you I'd make you regret the fact that I couldn't fire you."

"I was just trying to help you. You know my Mom died. I don't get to have a second chance with her. I don't want that to happen to you and Adam."

"You crossed a line, Kara Danvers. You don't know him. I don't even know him. I haven't seen him since he was a baby since his father whisked him across the country. I told you . . ."

Kara interrupted her. "You told me that losing Adam was the biggest regret of your life." She took a deep breath. "Miss Grant, I have known you for a while now, and I don't think you were ever going to send that letter, and another year of you missing him would have gone by like that."

Cat turned as Kara's fingers snapped under her nose.

"Sorry," Kara said.

Cat looked blank for a second.

"Sometimes, it's easier to face the past with a little help," Kara concluded.

Cat Grant turned and sat down.

"What kind of sentimental crap did you write to him?" she muttered, as she read the letter. "This isn't . . . actually . . . awful."

Suddenly the tension left her, and she looked up. "He did come. He's here. . . . Oh, my God, he's here."

"Since Kelly's not back at her desk yet, should I make a dinner reservation? Or should I just leave?"

Cat made her decision, "Make a reservation."

Kara turned for the door, but she stopped when Miss Grant spoke again.

"Kara, a question for you. After sending that letter which massively interferes in my private life, don't you think it was a little hypocritical of you to resign when I returned the favor?"

Kara's response was instant: "I'm just giving you the option, Miss Grant. I'm not depriving you of your job if you don't do what I want."

"I was bluffing. You know that."

"It didn't sound like it at the time. And the bluff crossed a line."

"I see. You had better work well with Mr. Olsen because if you ever need me to edit your copy again, I will make your life hell."

"It will be worth it," her unsinkable protégé replied as she turned to leave the office, smiling. "Family always is." Suddenly she stopped. "Miss Grant . . . ?"

"Yes, Kara?"

"Can I make a suggestion? When you talk to him, I think what you say should come from the heart. If I had the chance to talk to my mother, I'd want her to ask me if I'm happy. Even more, I'd want her to tell me why she made the decisions she made, you know, if she could go back and do it all over again, what would she do differently. Most of all, I'd want her to be honest."

"I've handled Putin, Pope Francis, and Taylor Swift. This is Adam. I think I'll take it from here."

Kara nodded, said goodbye, made the reservation and left.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

That afternoon the anti-alien rally was attacked by what turned out to be a White Martian. Supergirl was able to save Senator Crane, following which she brought her to the DEO for her security. After which, Kara returned to CatCo at James' request to help sort through the pictures he had taken at the rally in the hope of finding further leads. By the time Kara had spotted the change in the Senator's eyes, it was evening and the White Martian had captured her sister and sent a message to Hank for a duel. But the White Martian hadn't expected Supergirl to come along. In short order, the Martian was in a DEO cell, and Kara was on her way home.

As she made her going-to-bed snack, her phone rang.

"Kara, I need to talk to you now. Please meet me at CatCo." It was Miss Grant. "It's about Adam."

"I'll be there in twenty-five minutes."

"It used to take you twenty."

"Transit isn't as frequent at night. I'll see you soon."

"Call a cab. I'll pay you back. The security desk knows you're coming."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kara walked through the deserted executive suite and found her mentor on her balcony, standing still and looking out.

"Hello, Miss Grant."

"So you're here, finally."

"I got here as quickly as I could."

"If you can't get here faster, I suggest you just keep walking and throw yourself off the balcony."

Miss Grant still had not moved or looked at her.

Kara disregarded the non-essentials, guessed what had happened, and went straight to the point.

"How did dinner with Adam go?"

"And then, there's that," Miss Grant said in a strained voice. Suddenly she whirled to face Kara.

"Why didn't you prep me? You took it upon yourself to lure him in with your sunny Danvers sentimentality and then you let me go there unprepared." Her voice broke, "He's never going to talk to me again. He's leaving town tomorrow and I'll never see him again."

Again, Kara ignored the non-essentials. "I'm sorry it didn't go well."

"He didn't come here to see me. He came because of the letter. He might as well have come to see you."

Kara couldn't bear the pain in the other woman's voice.

"I'm going to fix this. What hotel is he staying at?"

Cat told her.

Kara left, and Cat sighed in her wake.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once she knew the hotel, her super hearing made it simple for Supergirl to identify Adam's hotel room.

She hovered above it and when morning came, and his movements indicated that he was up and dressing, Kara Danvers arrived in the lobby. When his elevator arrived, she shot to her feet and fell into step with him.

"Adam, Hi."

"What are you doing here?"

"It's about your Mom."

Adam sighed. "Are you here to drop off the apology check?" They walked on for a few steps. "Yeah, yeah, this is the point where my mother usually throws money at the problem."

"No, I don't work for your Mom and she didn't send me." They arrived at the desk, and Adam began the checkout process, as Kara continued speaking.

"I came because I'd never seen her like this before."

"Like what?" Adam's tone was flat, uninterested.

"Scared," Kara replied.

"Not getting enough retweets?" He turned to walk away.

"No, of losing you again."

"She did just fine for twenty-five years."

Kara moved in front of him and blocked his way.

"Or she was really good at pretending."

Adam stopped. There had been an undercurrent of anger in the girl's voice. He decided to listen to her.

"I know you think your Mom is this . . . heartless, narcissistic monster."

Adam gave nothing away. "Your words."

"And some days I do, too. But when you get past that, there is this inspiring person in there. A hero."

"You talk about her like she's Supergirl." Adam was skeptical.

"Well, . . . in some ways, . . . she is. And sometimes being a hero means making sacrifices. Deep down she always knew there was something big she needed to do. And if she could go back and do it all over again; I don't think she'd change a single thing, except . . . leaving you."

Adam looked unblinkingly at Kara and said.

"You wrote the letter."

Kara tried to laugh it off. "What? No, no. That would be illegal . . . maybe and . . . and completely insane. Yeah, but not exactly. Your Mom wrote most of it. Then, instead of sending it, she threw it in my general direction. What I did was add the last sentence and mail it."

"But you said you don't work for her."

"Up until two weeks ago, I did. I was her Personal Assistant. I resigned later for other reasons."

"I knew it: this explains everything."

"So you see, she's too scared."

"Of what?"

"Losing you."

"Why do you say that?" Adam asked.

"Did you read about how her emails got hacked a few weeks ago?"

"Yes. So?"

"What you don't know is that if some colleagues of mine hadn't been able to identify the hacker five minutes before a special Board meeting, your Mom would have gone into that meeting and resigned her job. She told me what she was about to do, and why, as we walked out of her office."

"Why would Mom have quit her job?"

"Because she knew the hack included her correspondence with you and she didn't want you to go through the paparazzi frenzy that would follow."

Kara stopped dead as she saw the look on Adam's face. It was the look of a young child, a trusting child, who has suddenly been slapped hard across the face by a total stranger. She couldn't imagine why anything she'd said would have had that kind of impact. It was only for a second, and then his face hardened.

"Say that again," he commanded, in a tone that, for the first time, reminded Kara of his mother.

"You mother knew that her correspondence with you was about to be published and that the paparazzi frenzy that would follow would be hurtful to you, so she was going to resign her job so that you wouldn't have to face it. That's why I know that your mother, despite whatever she's done and whatever she may have said last night, cares for you very much. And I sent the letter because I knew how much she cares for you and how much she's missing you."

No reaction from Adam.

"I know letting her in is not going to be easy. But you have to give her another chance."

Adam looked at her for a long time. Finally, he asked:

"Has anyone ever told you that you deserve a raise?"

"I don't work for your mother. Is that a yes?"

"Only if you come with me." He smiled at her.

Kara smiled back and nodded.

Adam took out his cell phone and made a phone call. "Hello, Mom? It's Adam. Something has come up, and I need to talk to you before I go home. Can we meet at that coffee shop by CatCo Plaza called . . . " He lifted an eyebrow at Kara who mouthed, "Noonan's" ". . . Noonan's . . In half an hour? Great. Thanks, Mom. See you there."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Half an hour later found Kara sitting and Adam standing at a booth in Noonan's as Cat Grant walked in.

"Hello, Adam. Hello, Kara, what brings you here?"

Adam replied. "Kara met me at my hotel this morning, and she told me the backstory of your letter."

If looks could kill, the glance Cat shot at Kara would have put the younger woman on the floor instantly.

Adam did not miss the look. "Fine, she broke your confidence, but she doesn't work for you anymore anyway. What's far more important is one of the things she told me. "

"And that is?"

"That under that cold, hard veneer that you wore yesterday evening and are wearing now is somebody who was about to give up her position at CatCo because she cared enough about me that she didn't want me to get caught in a paparazzi shitstorm. True or false, Mom?"

Cat took a deep breath and nodded. "True."

Adam turned to Kara. "Can you leave us for a few minutes. I need a private talk with my Mom."

"Of course." And Kara walked to a table on the other side of the floor and signaled a waitress.

Adam turned to his mother. "CatCo means that little to you?"

"No, it means a great deal to me," Cat replied. "It's the culmination of a twenty-year dream. But I couldn't let you go through the frenzy that would follow if you were identified in my emails."

"Right. I get that. Thanks for caring. But what you don't get is what you giving up for that reason would have done to me."

"What do you mean?"

Adam Foster took a deep breath and spoke from his heart. "I understand from Dad that he sought total custody because he thought you were too career focused to be a good mother. And you agreed, and you've gone on and built your career which, ultimately, meant CatCo. So I've always seen what you did as a trade. Your career, and ultimately CatCo, for me. And down through the years, I've tried to understand why you made that trade. I've watched you, and then CatCo, from a distance. I've learned about the news business, I volunteered on the high school paper, and my high school summer jobs were as an intern on the Opal City _Gazette._ I've talked to many people who are in the business, and I think I've learned the difference between a good news organization and a bad one. And from what I can see, you built a really good news organization in CatCo, and that's something worth fighting for. And I'm proud of you for doing that although I do have some things to say about other issues. But now you almost threw it away because you were afraid I'd be hurt by a shitstorm? Throwing it away would have been the real slap in the face, Mom. That would have told me that I was nothing, all over again. Do you want to send me that message?"

Cat Grant shook her head, stunned.

"Hopefully the situation doesn't recur, but if you ever face that choice again, I'll be proud to walk through that shitstorm for you. And don't you _dare_ give up on anything because you think I'll be hurt if you don't!"

Cat took a deep breath, lowered her head and swallowed twice and then a third time. When she spoke, her voice was not entirely under her control. "Adam, I never got to be your Mom. I never got to put a picture that you'd drawn up on the fridge. I never got to tell you stories, and I never got to teach you not to be afraid of the world. And I never got to tell you how amazing I think you are. But I am your biggest fan, Adam and I am so, so sad that I didn't get to see you grow up."

"You - you didn't want me."

"Oh, Adam, that is so unfair. No, I'm sorry, go on."

"Did you miss me?"

"Of course I missed you. I missed you every second. I . . . I still miss you." She reached out her hand without thinking and placed it on his. When he looked down, she pulled back. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to . . . "

But Adam took his mother's hand in his own. "I missed you, too," he whispered.

"I'm sorry," she replied.

"But?" he questioned.

"No buts," Cat replied. "I'm just sorry."

From the other side of the room, Kara saw them holding hands, and she grinned to herself as Rose arrived with her usual breakfast of sticky buns.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

By the time Kara finished her breakfast and got up to leave, Cat Grant and Adam Foster were almost totally oblivious to anything else.

But Kara's movement caught both of their eyes. "Excuse me, for a moment, Adam," Cat said. "I just need to call my assistant and have her reschedule a couple of things."

"Sure."

After Cat had completed her call, he began a new topic.

"So what is it with you and Kara?"

"What do you mean?"

"She says she doesn't work for you, but yesterday she picked up your latte here, and later on, I met her in your office. And this morning she turns up at my hotel with the backstory of the letter, yet you didn't send her. So what gives?"

"She used to work for me; she doesn't work for me now. Picking up that latte must have been a favor she did for my new assistant. She came to CatCo later to meet me about something else. Incidentally, why did you call her my cheerleader yesterday?"

"When I met her here yesterday morning, I thought she worked for you because she asked for your latte, and I wanted to get a sense of who you were from somebody who knew you, so I asked her a couple of questions. From her replies, it's obvious that she thinks the world of you."

"What did she say?"

Adam recounted the conversation, even to mimicking Kara's tones of voice and postures. For good measure, he also told his mother what Kara had said earlier that morning. When he finished his last line, his mother stared at him, astounded.

"Kara really said that?"

"Every word is a direct quote."

"My God, that girl is loyal," Cat muttered.

"So why doesn't she still work for you?"

"She resigned because I engaged in a very ill-judged interference in her personal life. And before you say it, that was a very bad mistake, the worst one I've made in my professional life. I'm working on rectifying it, and I've got her back working essentially for CatCo, but in a different job, where she's not working directly for me. Please don't do anything to try to help. You could unwittingly make the situation a whole lot worse."

"What was the personal matter?"

"That's for Kara to tell you, not me. And don't be surprised if she doesn't. But what you've just told me might help down the road."

"Then I'm glad to help."

"I'm glad you did. Are you still going back to Opal City today?"

"No, I bought a transferable ticket, and I changed it back to the weekend before you got here."

"Then why not meet me for dinner tonight?"

"Maybe tomorrow lunch? I think I'm going to have a dinner meeting tonight. I can let you know what's happening later on."

"Oh? Who do you know in National City?"

"What's Kara's phone number?"

"I see," said Adam's mother as a smile broke out on her face. "Did your father never tell you it's not polite to answer a question with a question?" She grinned to show she was joking, and then she recited a number which her son added to his contacts list.

"Thanks, Mom. I'll be in touch."

Cat reached for his hand. "Wait a second. Before you go, there's something I should tell you about Kara."


	10. A Second Confrontation

It was nearly 9 AM when Kara Danvers walked out of Noonan's coffee shop and disappeared behind a dumpster in the back alley. A few seconds later, only a very alert eye would have seen Supergirl take off from the same spot and head for the outskirts of National City.

When she arrived at the DEO headquarters, she paired up with one of the tactical teams in a training exercise; a simulated alien/hostage situation. Now that she had been working with the DEO for a while, Supergirl meshed with the agents effortlessly, even though this particular team was not led by her sister: this time, Alex was umpiring the exercise. She used her X-ray vision to find the alien and the hostages within the "house," and let the team leader know their locations. Then, as the team planned their tactics, she added a couple of refinements. When the assault started, she attacked first while the team moved in from the other direction. The takedown was swift and efficient without a single simulated casualty. The exercise was declared "successful:" it had taken barely ninety minutes, and now the team was debriefing in one of the conference rooms.

After spotlighting some minor deficiencies in the tac team's preparation, Director Henshaw turned his attention to his Kryptonian auxiliary. "You're getting better at teamwork, Supergirl. It's nice to see that you are not barging in by yourself anymore."

"I've learned that it's better to work as a part of a bigger team when I can," Supergirl replied. "The additional support can be a real help."

With that, the meeting broke up. But, as Kara left the room, she promised herself that she would move in alone if she had to, knowing full well that her flying abilities and speed meant that she was often the first arrival at target sites.

As she walked down the corridor to the break room with her sister, her phone rang.

The distinctive ring told her who the caller was.

Kara took a deep breath.

"Kara Danvers, how can I help you?"

000000000000

"Kara Danvers, how can I help you?"

The voice was the same: pleasant, eager and cheerful. The greeting was different, and Cat Grant felt a pang at the change. She couldn't help a small gasp, but she rallied quickly.

"Kara, I think we need to meet and fairly quickly. It's something best discussed in person. Would you be able to have lunch with me today or tomorrow?"

Kara thought fast. She had some guesses as to what her former boss wanted to talk about ranging from Cat thanking her for bringing Adam back into her life to Cat telling her that somebody else had uncovered Supergirl's secret identity. But she couldn't ask Miss Grant what it was about: her former boss had signaled that she would not go into detail over the phone.

Kara's reply was almost instantaneous.

"I can meet with you today, Miss Grant. When and where?"

"Would twelve-thirty at _L'Auberge_ work for you?"

"I'll see you then."

"Thank you, Kara. Good-bye for now."

"You're welcome. Good-bye."

"You don't work for her now, you know," her sister said.

"I know," Kara replied, "but she said we needed to meet quickly about something she wouldn't discuss on the phone. I think I'd better find out what it is, don't you?"

Kara watched Alex's eyes as her sister thought through the possibilities.

Finally, Alex nodded, "I see what you mean."

00000000000000000

 _L'Auberge_ was the finest French restaurant in National City and Cat Grant's favorite place for business lunches with people she wanted to impress. Kara had accompanied her mentor to a couple of these lunches, so thought she knew what to expect. But she was slightly taken aback when Antoine, the maítre d', personally greeted her and then escorted her the full length of the restaurant and into a small private dining room she hadn't known existed.

Her former boss was waiting for her and Antoine stood to one side after ushering her in.

"Hello Kara, thank you for coming. I've asked Antoine to take our orders, so . . . " She gestured to the chairs, and the two women sat down.

Kara looked at the menu and ordered her favorite Beef Bourguignon, and Miss Grant picked the Coq Au Vin Blanc. After Antoine had left, the two women looked at one another. Miss Grant looked away first.

"Kara, this is difficult," she began as she forced herself to look back at her erstwhile assistant, and her voice was not steady. "I – I have my son back, and you are the one who gave him to me. How can I ever thank you adequately for a gift like that?"

Kara tried to deflect the praise. "It was nothing."

Miss Grant was having none of it. "No, Kara, it was not 'nothing'. Far from it. How many people do you know who would risk getting fired for interfering in their boss's personal life the way you did, then voluntarily make a second intervention in the situation after her boss has forced her resignation out of sheer bullying? Not to mention speaking of that boss in the way you did to Adam on two separate occasions. He was impressed."

As she saw the surprise in Kara's eyes, Cat continued. "Yes, Adam told me what happened yesterday at Noonan's, and today at the hotel. If you ask him, I'm sure he'll repeat your speeches for you, word for word. It turns out that he's got total recall and he's a gifted mimic. He had your speech rhythms and manner down perfectly."

Kara deliberately overlooked the implied question of when, or why, she would be talking to her mentor's eldest son. Miss Grant waited a few seconds. Once she realized that Kara would not rise to her bait, she continued.

"Kara, I've been around a long time, and I've never seen or heard of anyone doing anything like what you've done for me. What you did was not mere politeness, it wasn't just professionalism. It was more than casual care of an acquaintance or even the deeper care of a friend. What you did goes far beyond those things. There's only one word that describes what you did, Kara, and don't think I don't know it and don't try to dodge it when I name it because I won't let you. The fact is, Kara, actions do speak louder than words and what you did says something about you in the most emphatic of terms. And that something is something we almost never see. But before I get to that, I need to say something else. I don't know how many people in your life you would classify as your enemies, but knowing you, I don't think you have many. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if I was the only person you could put into that category."

"You're not my enemy, Miss Grant, but you're right that I don't have many enemies."

"Not your enemy? I threaten to fire you from a job you love in a way that forces you to resign even when I withdraw my threat? And don't forget that I saw you how you reacted when I threatened to fire you: if you weren't angry and fighting for self-control in those moments, I'll eat my best Montblanc pen. No Kara, if I'm not your enemy I must be the closest thing you have to one. And what you did in helping me reconnect with my son, was nothing less than an act of the 'love your enemies' kind of love, because you, Kara Danvers, are loving somebody who doesn't deserve your love at all.

"Miss Grant, stop, please. You're embarrassing me."

"I'm only telling the truth. And I'm not finished, Kara."

"Oh?"

"Your actions yesterday and today have highlighted three big issues, and we need to talk about them."

A bewildered Kara replied: "We do? What are they?"

"First, your confusion between means and ends."

"What do you mean?"

"You thought that you had to resign as my Personal Assistant because you broke my confidence."

"No, Miss Grant, I had no choice. And I broke it again after leaving your employment when I talked to Adam this morning."

"Yes, you broke my confidence both times. But what you don't understand, Kara, and what I see all too clearly, is that breaking a boss's confidence is not a moral offense. Nor is it a firing offense in all situations. While it is a violation of a best practice, keeping your boss's confidence is not an end in itself but it's only a means to an end. Many people have misused the phrase 'The end justifies the means,' but that doesn't mean that there are no occasions when the end does justify the means. And, in your case, both of your breaches of my confidence fall squarely into the camp where the end does justify what you did."

"I don't see it that way, Miss Grant." Kara was dogged in her opposition.

"So let me explain things to you. The end in view that explains why a PA should keep her boss's confidence is that by doing so, she is supporting her boss and supporting her employer. Would you disagree with that?"

"No," Kara replied hesitantly.

"Thank you. Your first breach of my confidence prevented me from unjustly firing you and stopped my putting undeserved targets for Supergirl's enemies on the backs of yourself, your family and your friends. Wouldn't you agree that in so doing, you stopped your boss from carrying out actions that your boss would have subsequently regretted for a very long time? And since CatCo would have paid compensation to survivors if anybody had been killed or hurt by my action, can you deny that your breach of my confidence has averted one or more incidents that could well have damaged your employer?"

"I can't disagree with those statements. But I should have found another way to do it."

"When you find that other way, let me know. But the point is moot because you agreed with me on the essential thing which is that your breach of my confidence supported both me and CatCo. Your second breach of my confidence, in the matter with Adam, has given me back something that I thought I had lost forever. That counts as supporting your boss if anything does."

"And there's another thing. You think that I can't trust you. Wise managers know that the best employees don't just carry out policies and procedures by rote: instead, they do what they have to do to support their employer or their manager. So when an employee breaks the rules to do the right thing on a deeper level, that employee's manager gains a far deeper trust in the employee. Employees like that are valued very highly by their employers, just as highly as I value you. Which is why you deserve a job for life with me. And it hurts me that you won't let me give you what you deserve."

"But what if I slip and presume on your goodwill from this incident and break the rules again in a way that hurts you or CatCo?"

"If that ever happened, I could invite you to resign, knowing full well that you would do it." Miss Grant responded. "But that's a contingency that won't ever happen."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because, in the one moment I have ever succeeded in provoking you to lose even a semblance of your formidable self-control, you only asked me a question. Somewhat forcefully, yes, but you hurt neither the company nor me when you did it. And, as I said a few moments ago, you love me. Seriously, Kara, can you sit there, look at me with a straight face and tell me that you would ever do anything that would hurt CatCo or me?"

By the time Antoine and an assistant brought in their food a few moments later, a stunned Kara Danvers had not been able to say a single word in reply.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Cat Grant left Kara in peace while they ate their lunches. By way of passing on a hello from her youngest son, she moved their talk to how Carter was doing at school and how Adam had extended his stay in National City. But it did not escape Kara's notice that her former boss was having more than a couple of martinis.

When they were almost finished dessert, Cat Grant returned to her principal concern.

"I said earlier that we had three issues that we need to talk about, Kara. The second issue is whether you are being honest with yourself and me over the second and third reasons you gave me for resigning. You told me that you would lose your self-respect if you stayed on."

"I did, and I was right."

"I might believe that – if I didn't know that forgiving your enemies is an essential prerequisite to loving them. And when you forgive somebody, Kara, your self-respect is not hurt when a person you love freely admits and apologizes for their mistake and seeks reconciliation with you. And when you love somebody the way you did, your actions proclaim that neither your vision of Livewire shooting electricity at your foster Mom nor your love of the liberty proclaimed by Jefferson block you from doing good to me. And you've known for some time that I was bluffing when I threatened to fire you, and it's clear that you believe me. So there's no real reason why you can't return to CatCo when that FBI investigation concludes."

"You are wiser than you like to let on, Miss Grant, but I'm not coming back."

"I know – and I also know why."

Kara went rigid.

"And that's the third issue. Since I've just shown that your stated reasons for leaving CatCo either don't apply or have been overruled by your love, it's obvious that your real reason for leaving CatCo is something other than your stated reasons. Which means there is something else you are not telling me. I don't know what it is and I'm not going to ask. And because I owe you my job and my son, I'm not going to talk about this to anyone. I won't push you to tell me what it is: it's clear that your privacy on this matter is very important to you. But I know this much: the only other time I've seen anything like this is when Supergirl talked to me the other day."

"What do you mean?"

"She explained to me why there are only a very, very few people on this planet who know her earthly identity. And the reason why she is so passionately committed to making sure that nobody else finds out. Whatever your secret is, it's something of as much importance to you as keeping her private life out of the news is for Supergirl. And since it's hurting both of us for you not to come back to working with me, your real reason for staying away has to be that you are afraid you'll hurt one or more of us worse if you come back, no?"

Kara remained silent.

"But if you can ever bring yourself to tell me, please do so. Because maybe I can help you cope with it in a better way than you are doing now."

"Thank you, Miss Grant, for a very nice lunch," replied Kara, "I'll think about what you've said."

"That's all I can ask," said her mentor as they got up to leave. "But I have something for you," Cat said as she looked in her purse. "Oh, bother. I left it back at CatCo. Do you mind coming back with me for a second?"

"Not at all, Miss Grant," replied Kara as they left the restaurant.


	11. A Bizarre Complication

As they two women got out of Cat's car in front of CatCo Plaza, Kara's phone rang.

"Kara Danvers, can I help you?"

Pause.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" Kara's tone was that of someone taken slightly by surprise.

A short pause.

"Yes, I can do that. No, that's not good. A better place might be Benetto's on Smythe Street."

Cat knew the restaurant. It was an upscale millennial hangout situated across the street from Noonan's. It was a little too noisy for her, but the food was great and the service was good.

A shorter pause.

"Five-fifteen works. I'll see you there."

"A new client, Kara?" Cat wondered.

"Nope. Just an acquaintance who wants to talk to me about something."

They continued to walk into the building and were soon getting out on the executive floor.

As they stepped out of the elevator, Cat's eye, as always, went first to the breaking news screen.

Only to see Supergirl pick up a car and throw it away.

00000000000000

Kara's eyes had followed her own with the ease of long practice. Cat heard the girl gasp, and she turned to her.

"Quick quiz, reporter Danvers. What's your headline for that: 'Supergirl Gone Rogue', 'Supergirl Gone Wild,' 'Supergirl, Supermenace?'"

Kara muttered, "Maybe it's not Supergirl."

"That's interesting, say more," Cat invited.

"Maybe it's an impostor, pretending to be Supergirl."

"Go on."

"I don't know. Maybe it's someone trying to discredit her."

"I like that angle. It gives our girl the benefit of the doubt. It shows that we're choosing not to believe the worst in people. Yes, I can see the headline clearly now. The word 'Supergirl' with a question mark as in 'Supergirl?' I'd better call in the city reporters and get the stories written."

"And I'd better go see Mr. Olsen and get him to send a message to Supergirl asking or an interview."

"Good idea, Kara," Miss Grant replied. "Off you go, chop-chop." But Kara didn't move immediately.

Her mentor looked at her, "Yes, Kara?"

"You said you had something for me?"

"Right. Thank you, I must have left it on my desk."

The two women walked into Cat's office and Cat picked up a keycard and handed it to Kara.

"All our regular reporters have keycards and since your particular subject doesn't work banker's hours you shouldn't have to make special arrangements to get in here if Supergirl does something special in the middle of the night."

"Thank you, Miss Grant. I'll let you know as soon as I've talked to Supergirl."

And Kara quickly left the office.

OOOOOO

A quick flight to the DEO and Supergirl found Hank Henshaw and her sister reviewing the footage of the fake Supergirl.

"Not one of your greatest hits," Hank remarked.

"But who is she? It's certain it's not me. I was with Cat Grant in the CatCo newsroom where she threw the car away. Could it be that girl in room 52 of Lord Technologies?"

"Unlikely," Hank replied. "That girl was comatose, her cerebral cortex functioning was almost nonexistent. Bringing her back to even partial consciousness would be like raising the dead."

"Are you sure?" Supergirl asked.

"Maxell Lord does have a god complex, but he's not an actual god." Hank turned away.

Alex was practical, as usual, "In that case, we'll just have to monitor the city with a couple of patrol teams and let you know where she turns up again."

"Thanks." Supergirl turned and left without another word.

OOOOOOOOO

It was four-fifteen when the phone rang on Cat Grant's desk.

"Hello, Miss Grant. Supergirl came by my apartment and gave me a short statement. She denies that the person we saw wearing her outfit was her and she says she'll be watching for any other activities of this person. I'll email you her exact words in a moment."

"Thank you, Kara. Quick work."

OOOOOOOOO

It was five-ten when Kara walked into Benetto's, but to her surprise, Adam Foster was waiting at the bar with a beer in front of him.

"Hi, Adam. How are you?"

"I'm fine, Kara. Thanks for coming."

"You're welcome. You said you wanted to talk to me?"

"Yes."

The bartender was there. Kara ordered a glass of a nice red.

"This is a nice place." Adam commented, "But you said Mario Batali's new place wouldn't be good. How did you know that?"

"Who do you think made all your Mom's dinner reservations?" Kara teased. "I just had a feeling that that place wouldn't be your style. Our style."

Adam shook his head, "You're amazing."

Kara lowered her head and sipped her wine. "No, I'm not."

"Yeah, you are," Adam replied. And as Kara shook her head, he continued. "Yeah. Not just anybody would have sent me that letter."

Kara frowned. "Sure they would."

Adam was having none of it. "Nah, no, most people wouldn't have cared. And then, when I turn up, after Mom forces you to resign, you don't just stand aside as almost anybody else in your position would do, you actively persuade her to meet with me, then, after our first meeting doesn't go well, you step in again, meet me at my hotel and persuade me to meet with Mom when I'm about to blow this town. No, Kara, You're different. And that's without mentioning how you found the hacker. Mom says that if you hadn't had the idea to check that bastard out, your colleagues wouldn't have found the evidence that saved her job."

"I can't really take much credit for that. It was something your Mom said that gave me the idea."

"Not your ability to lip read?"

Kara raised an eyebrow, "You and your Mom must have had an interesting conversation. But the fact is, if she hadn't said what she said, I wouldn't have looked at Mr. Armstrong when I did."

"But the fact is you did it. You saved Mom's job and you brought us together. I don't know how I can thank you."

"Your Mom is a great person and a great journalist; you're not so bad yourself. I'm happy I was able to help you both. You don't have to do anything special to thank me."

"No, but Kara, if I can ever help you in any way, you have only to ask."

"I doubt if I'll ever be in Opal City, Adam, but thanks for the offer."

"Actually, I'm going to be relocating here. The other reason I came to National City this week was that I had a job interview with a local engineering firm as an engineer in training. This morning I heard the news: I got the job. But I really wanted to talk with you about something else."

"What's that?"

"Kara, you see people, you understand them and you help them. It makes me wish that I could . . . no."

"Makes you wish what?"

No reply.

"Come on, tell me," Kara cajoled.

Adam sighed. "It makes me wish that I could . . . get the chance to do that for you."

For a moment Kara's face worked, then she looked away.

After a few seconds, Adam asked, "Was that too much?"

"No," Kara replied, "No, I think . . . that would be really nice."

Adam Foster took a deep breath and seized the opportunity he never thought he'd get.

"Then, if I may step into something that you may think is none of my business, here we go. Mom told me that she offered you a job with her for life around the time of the hacking incident. And a couple of days later, you quit, because, according to Mom, she interfered in your private life. By the way, she calls that decision the worst mistake she's ever made in her professional life. That's one point in a very unusual data set."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked. Clearly, Adam Foster was sharper than she had thought.

"The second data point is this. It's obvious that you care for my Mom very much: I saw that instantly when I met you at Noonan's yesterday and at the hotel this morning. Third data point: the fact that you're not working for Mom is hurting both of you: I saw it in your eyes when you told me you had resigned, and I heard it in Mom's voice when she told me about this situation and told me not to get involved because I could make it worse"

"You are definitely as sharp as your Mom," Kara complained, lightly, but her eyes were watching him closely. "Working for her was a constant race to keep up."

"Kara, is there anything I can do to help resolve whatever your difficulties are with Mom?"

"No, Adam, but thank you for your concern. I appreciate it. I just can't work for her as her Personal Assistant anymore. I can work for CatCo in other positions and I'm doing that."

Suddenly, Kara heard a new note in the background TV announcer's voice.

"Now to a story we are covering live. The National Island tramway is dangling, leaving passengers stranded and in peril. NCPD and emergency rescue workers are en route, but eyewitness accounts suggest they may not get there in time."

Kara reached into her bag and came out with her cell phone. "Yes, Alex?" Her face tightened as she listened. Then she stood up. "Sorry, Adam, I have to go. A family matter."

"Where? I can drive you."

"Thanks, but it's not necessary." Kara's face relaxed and her fleeting smile was sincere and deep. "But thanks for offering to help. Good luck with your Mom and your new job."

"Can we get together for dinner tomorrow night?"

To her surprise, Kara found herself saying, "Sure."

"I'll call you tomorrow morning. Is Korean barbecue OK with you?"

"Yes, bye for now." And Kara walked out the door.

Adam Foster finished his beer and pulled out his phone.

"Hello, Mom, it looks like I can meet you for dinner after all if you're free."

"I probably won't be free for a couple of hours, but since you interned on the _Gazette,_ how would you like to see how a good news organization covers a big breaking story?"

"The _Gazette's_ a fairly good paper, Mom, but I wouldn't mind seeing how CatCo does things. I'll be there in five minutes."

"So close?" his mother asked.

"Yes, I'm at Benetto's."

"When you get here, use the private elevator. Check in with Security desk in the lobby; they'll be holding it for you."

"See you soon," Adam said and cut the connection.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When Adam Foster arrived on the CatCo executive floor, he found his mother and a small group of staffers, some with tablets in hand, in his Mom's office. They watched a bank of TV screens behind the office desk that showed two Supergirls fighting on top of the damaged cable car. In a couple of shots, the cameraman was able to zoom in on both girls faces.

Cat Grant heard her son enter her office. Without turning her eyes from the screen for more than a second, she remarked. "Thank you for coming, Adam. Ladies and gentlemen, this is my eldest son, Adam Foster a former intern on the Opal City _Gazette_. Adam, from your left to right meet James Olsen, Art Director, Walt Cunningham, City Desk editor, Kelly Regan, my interim Personal Assistant, Loh Ken-Wa and Shirley Stevens, reporters and Winn Schott, computer expert and researcher. At present one of Mr. Olsen's photojournalists is on the scene and Mr. Loh is writing the play-by-play from what our cameraman is giving us while Ms. Stevens is writing the cable car failure story. But the big thing is that Kara's guess turned out to be right."

"Kara's guess?" Adam asked.

"Kara guessed that the Supergirl who threw the car off the bridge earlier today wasn't the real Supergirl."

Suddenly, everyone in the room gasped as the cable car gave way and fell. One of the Supergirls caught it, lowered it to the ground, while, for some reason, the other flew away. The Tribune cameraman made his way to the superhero as the passengers were coming out.

"Supergirl, Greg Clairbourne, National City Tribune. Who is that other Supergirl?"

"I have no idea yet, Mr. Clairbourne, but you can bet I'm going to find out."

"I'm sorry, but I have to ask this: you are the Supergirl that's been helping National City for the last few months, right?"

"Right. If you like, I'll fly you to CatCo headquarters where you can record me meeting with Cat Grant. She'll be able to confirm my last statement."

"That'll be great, Supergirl. Can you wait a few moments while I get a couple of passenger accounts?"

"No problem."

After the photojournalist had got the stories of three passengers, he turned to the Girl of Steel.

"Ready to go. How do we do this?"

"One arm behind your shoulders, the other under your knees. Lean back, and I've got you."

"Do you mind if I record the flight for our viewers?"

"Not at all." And with that, Supergirl took off.

Two minutes later, Supergirl and her passenger landed on Cat's office balcony.

"Good evening, Miss Grant, Mr. Olsen, Mr. Schott. I don't believe I know your colleagues."

Cat Grant took that. "Hello, Supergirl. To your right, the sandy blond in the green jacket with the nice smile is Adam Foster, a former intern on the Opal City _Gazette_ and my eldest son. On Mr. Olsen's other side are Walt Cunningham, Tribune City Desk editor; Kelly Regan, my temporary Assistant; Loh Ken-Wa and Shirley Stevens, reporters. You said you could prove you are the real Supergirl?"

"One hundred percent genuine article. Unless you've told anybody else the site of our first meeting, I can do that right now."

"I haven't told anybody that, nor have I told anybody how I got there."

"The site was Logan Rock and you got there because I flew your car with you in it to the top of the rock."

"OK people, meet the real Supergirl. So what can you tell us about your doppelganger?"

"She looks like me: she has at least some of my powers, flight, and strength; but she talks like a four-year-old. It's weird."

"Is she another Kryptonian?"

"I don't know whether she is or not. On what I know now, I can't even guess."

"So Supergirl, how can we reassure our readers that you are the real Supergirl when they meet you or alert them to trouble when Bizarro turns up?"

"I think I sound reasonably intelligent, so until this is resolved, I'll make a point of talking to the people I meet so they will know that I'm the real Supergirl. If you could emphasize the fact that this other girl sounds like the cookie monster, that might be the easiest way to tell us apart."

"We will do that." Cat signaled the photojournalist who signed off and shut down his camera.

"So what do we call Supergirl's double, people?" Cat asked.

"Fake Supergirl?" Shirley Stevens wondered.

Cat shook her head.

"How about 'Doppleganger?'" James put in.

"No," Cat said, "we need something that people will understand without having to check a dictionary."

"What about Bizarro?"

Everyone looked at Adam Foster.

"That's exactly right, Adam. Thank you." his mother said. Turning to the others, she continued: "Mr. Olsen, you need to get Mr. Clairbourne's film on the web now. Mr. Clairbourne, you've got a second story to write. 'Flying With Supergirl'. Mr. Cunningham, you ride herd on Mr. Loh and Ms. Stevens: we need their stories online in fifteen minutes. Mr. Schott, do you have any friends who may know hackers in places like Anonymous or WikiLeaks who might be able to find out if the government has a project to duplicate Supergirl?"

"I can put the word out but I don't know what kind of results we'll get."

"Go to it, everyone."

With that, the staffers left.

Cat Grant broke the momentary silence.

"Thank you for stopping by, Supergirl."

"You're welcome. Good night, Miss Grant. Good night, Mr. Foster."

Supergirl turned and left.

"Well, Adam?"

"Well, what?"

"How did we do? Do we measure up to _Gazette_ standards?"

"You did pretty much what the _Gazette_ would have done although they're smaller. They'd only have one reporter covering both stories and the owner doubles as the city editor. But other than that, I didn't see too much of a difference. But I did notice something earlier when we saw the fight. Is it possible you can play back the recording?"

"Sure," his mother said. "Just let me call Mr. Olsen."

A few moments later, James Olsen returned to the office. "The recording is up on screen four, Miss Grant. What do you need?"

"Adam thinks he noticed something. What is it, Adam?"

"Can you fast forward to when the fight starts?"

"Miss Grant?"

"Use my computer."

James Olsen made the necessary mouse clicks, and the recording shot forward. When the second Supergirl appeared, he stopped the advance and restarted it at normal speed. When the cameraman moved to a closeup of the two Supergirls' faces as they grappled together just before the cable car fell, Adam said, "Stop."

"What is it, Adam?"

"The one on the left has a scar near her left eyebrow. The one on the right doesn't. Can we move ahead from here in slow motion?"

"Sure," James replied.

As the film spooled, Adam kept his eyes on the scarred Supergirl who turned out to be the one who brought the falling cable car safely to earth.

"I see what you mean. The one with the scar is the genuine Supergirl, but the one without the scar is the fake." James Olsen commented.

"Yes, I've noticed that scar too." Cat contributed. "But it comes and goes as her expression changes. So it's not a sure identifier. And if we publish it, who can say whether or not whoever produced this imposter can duplicate it? So we don't put it out there. Thanks for your help, Mr. Olsen."

As James left the office, Cat Grant commented: "That was a very sharp observation, Adam. And you've got a fine feeling for words. If you write as well as you see things, there's a job here as a cub reporter with your name on it."

"Well, that would have been tempting, but I start working as an Engineer in Training with Simons Engineering's National City office next week. I just found out today."

"Why, Adam, that's wonderful! Have you found an apartment yet?"

"That's what I'll be doing between now and Saturday."

Oh, before we go get dinner, what happened to your date with Kara?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I was having lunch with her when you called to set it up."

"Oh. Well, it wasn't really a date, just an after-work drink: I wanted to thank her for all that she's done for me, or rather, for you and me. I was going to ask her to have dinner with me, but she had to leave before I could do that."

"She had to leave?"

"Yes, she got a phone call from someone about a family emergency. But I did get her to agree to dinner tomorrow night."

"Probably her sister," Cat muttered absently. "Good luck with your apartment hunt. Do you need any help with moving expenses?"

"Not really. Simons pays very well, and in this situation, there's a relocation allowance. I don't have too much stuff anyway, so moving will be easy."

"Adam, if you won't let me help you with moving expenses, can I at least help you save some money on this trip's expenses?"

"What do you mean?"

"There's no need for you to stay at a hotel for the rest of the week when I have a perfectly serviceable guest suite. And if you are going to be living in National City, you should at least know where your mother lives."

Adam Foster thought for a moment.

"I'll take you up on that. What's the address?"

Cat told him. Then she said, "My car's downstairs. If we go to your hotel right now and get your stuff, we can go out for dinner and then go home."

"OK, Mom. That sounds good."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

As they went down the elevator, neither mother nor son knew that their thoughts were running in parallel.

Adam Foster had deliberately not told his mother where he had seen a scar similar to Supergirl's a scant half hour before.

And Cat Grant had refrained from telling her son that she had frequently seen a similar scar. Even though she was almost certain she was wrong, the second Supergirl turning up had re-opened a possibility in her mind that had recently been labeled impossible. Now, once again, it was a possibility that could no longer be dismissed out of hand.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A relaxing dinner with his Mom and an energetic introduction to his stepbrother, Carter, that mostly involved bonding over video games propelled Adam Foster into a good night's sleep. Waking early the next morning he made a fast google search of National City's Korean barbecue restaurants and he quickly found a likely prospect. After confirming time and place with his date, he turned his attention to the real estate listings and spent most of the morning and early afternoon checking out potential apartments. By 4:15, he found the place he wanted and signed a year's lease. After a get acquainted walk around the neighborhood, he dropped into a barber shop for a trim. With that done, he headed for the restaurant.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kara Danvers couldn't remember the last time she had enjoyed a meal so much. Adam was smart, funny, caring and they quickly fell into the rhythms of old friends as they chatted. When she looked at her watch, nearly three hours had gone by without her noticing.

"I'd better be going, Adam. I have an early start tomorrow. But it's been fun, every second of it."

"Can I take you home? My car's parked in the street on the other side of the park."

"Sure," Kara said.

As they entered the park, Adam continued the conversation: "We've talked a lot about what I've been doing and what you are doing for CatCo, but do you mind telling me something about how you got started with Mom?"

"I don't mind. I was lucky to get hired as your Mom's assistant. Working with her was really great for me. She was a really great mentor to me whether she knows it or not."

"How about your Mom?" Adam replied, "You guys close?"

"We were. She died. My Dad too."

"Oh my God, what happened?"

"There was an accident. I wasn't there."

Adam Foster looked at the girl beside him. She wasn't looking at him. "Kara, I'm so sorry."

"No, no, it happened a long time ago. I was adopted by this really wonderful family who are great to me. So everything had a happy ending." As she said it she looked down.

Adam Foster was no fool. And as someone who'd suffered in his own family life, he recognized instantly how deeply Kara was hurting.

"But?" he asked.

"Well. . . " Kara looked up again, "after that it's . . . it's . . . always been hard for me to feel normal, I guess. You know, like, where I'm supposed to be. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes," Adam replied, "but, Kara, I should tell you something." He moved in, gently kissed her hair and said, "No one ever feels normal."

Kara looked at him with her heart in her eyes, put her face up and they leaned in for another kiss. It lasted for a long time – until she was suddenly torn away by Bizarro.

"Kara!" yelled a stunned Adam Foster.

After a few seconds, his mind began to work and he ran for his car.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once Bizarro had moved beyond Adam Foster's field of view, it was relatively simple for Kara, with her greater experience in both flying and fighting, to trigger her DEO emergency alarm and free herself from the other girl's grip. But as she got free, the other girl threw her to the ground. As she got up she barely had time to say, "You're making a mistake" before the other girl fired a freeze vision blast that Kara had to block. Then an exchange of punches sent Kara into the air. She quickly recovered and shot herself back at her adversary and knocked her spinning, to which the other replied by breathing fire at her. Defending with her freeze breath, Kara put out the fire and moved out of range as the other attacked. As her bizarre double flew at her yet again, Kara caught her wrists as the two DEO city patrol cars pulled up and a barrage of Kryptonite bullets quickly put the other girl on the ground.

A few seconds later, to their astonishment, the strange girl got up and her face visibly decayed as the DEO team watched in shock. With a yell of "Hate you!" she took off and disappeared and the presence of kryptonite in the many shell casings scattered on the ground made it impossible for Supergirl to follow.

Back at the DEO, Kara let Alex know that her doppelganger had targeted Kara Danvers and the corollary: that Max Lord now knew that Kara was Supergirl. Then the girls went to see Hank. After reporting that the mission to capture Bizarro had failed because the counterfeit's powers were mirror images of Supergirl's abilities, Hank set the DEO team to reverse engineer their synthetic Kryptonite to work on Bizarro.

But Kara knew that such a step would be ultimately useless unless Max Lord was taken out of play. As she left the DEO, she muttered, "It is time to stop him. Once and for all."

OOOOOOOOOOO

A few minutes later Kara Danvers walked into Cat Grant's office to find Cat and Adam walking in from the balcony and Adam saying "I should have done more. I mean, why take her and not me?"

"It was just dumb luck," Kara said, as both heads turned to her as if on strings and stared.

"Kara, what happened? We have been worried sick about you. I ordered an amber alert." her mentor scolded.

"I was lucky. Bizarro flew over an FBI tactical team on a training exercise. They had some special weapons. When they fired them, she was so surprised she dropped me and flew off. Luckily, I fell into a tree. But, Miss Grant, I think I need a private word with Adam."

Cat recognized what was about to happen. "Oh, well. I guess I'll go roam the hallways of my building."

Kara turned away from Adam.

"Adam."

He made it easy for her.

"Are you breaking up with me? Because we haven't even started dating yet."

"I hate to say this, but maybe the universe is sending us a message. Our first date got interrupted, and then I was kidnapped."

"I know what you've been through," Adam replied, "And I get it. But not everyone's going to leave you, not if you let them stick around."

"If I had been five minutes earlier or later at Noonan's that day, we wouldn't have even met, we wouldn't be here."

"So what I think was fate, you think was an accident?" Adam asked.

Suddenly Kara turned to look at him. Her face tightened and the small scar by her left eybrow reappeared. When she spoke, her voice was deeper, certain.

"If I've learned anything from the last few weeks," she said, "If I don't have room in my life for a great guy like you, maybe I don't have room for anyone. I don't know if that makes you feel any better."

"Not really," Adam replied. "I thought this wasn't going to work because of my baggage, my issues and I'd be the one to chicken out."

"I'm sorry." Kara sobbed.

"I know you are."

"I'm gonna go."

"No, I'm going to leave. Just hang on here for a second."

He walked a few steps away and turned.

"Goodbye, Kara."

"Bye, Adam."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

In room 52, Max Lord looked away from his creation.

"Supergirl made you a monster."

He turned suddenly. "If I were you I'd be very angry about that. I'd want to take away anyone Supergirl loves."

He turned and left the room, leaving a disfigured Bizarro deep in thought. She knew who she would take away. Thanks to Supergirl's powers, she also knew how to find him.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

The next day was a dreary round of chores for Adam Foster. He opened a new bank account, arranged for a phone line at his new apartment and sent out several change-of-address forms. Mostly he replayed the conversation with Kara, wondering if he could have prevented what had happened by doing something differently. But, as always with such exercises, the result was nothing more than a case of the blues.

He had dinner with his mother that night and explained what had happened. Afterward, they walked back to CatCo so Cat could check in with the International Desk for developments on a late-breaking crisis in Beijing. While she was doing that Adam sat on the couch for a few moments, then, restless, moved to her balcony and looked out. A few moments after he did so he heard a swish and turned around.

Bizarro was standing on the other end of the balcony.

Adam had time to notice that her face was now something out of a horror show before she screamed, grabbed him, and flew off.

Behind him, Cat saw what had happened and placed a call to James Olsen.

"Miss Grant, what's up?"

"Jimmy, Bizarro just kidnapped my son Adam from my CatCo balcony. Call Supergirl at once."

"On it." Quickly James Olsen hung up, then called Kara and relayed Miss Grant's message.

And Supergirl was in the air less than two minutes after Bizarro had left the CatCo balcony.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Kara Danvers had memorized Adam Foster's heartbeat almost unconsciously during their date. Now, Supergirl listened for it as she shot into the air. She picked it up within thirty seconds and she followed Bizarro. From a distance, she saw Adam taken to a warehouse on National City's outskirts. Using her X-ray vision she saw Bizzaro tie him up, but otherwise leave him alone. She called her sister at the DEO and asked whether the synthetic kryptonite had been reengineered. For once there was good news: the reengineered synthetic K was ready and Alex's team was rolling within seconds with an ETA of 20 minutes. As the team got closer, she and Alex worked out a plan. She would have to distract Bizarro while the DEO team arrived and set up, so she would go in when the team was two minutes out.

Supergirl hovered in the sky until they got there. When she saw the incoming SUV's she moved and fired her way through an open factory window, and landed behind Bizarro.

The doppelganger turned, saw her and roared, "I kill Supergirl." She opened with a flame breath blast that Supergirl countered with freeze breath. From there it went to an extended ballet of punching and short flights until Bizarro got her hands around Supergirl's throat.

For no reason that Adam could see, Supergirl rotated so that she was between him and Bizarro. A shot rang out and Bizarro let go and fell to the floor. Several armed men and women all dressed in black suddenly appeared.

Supergirl dropped to the floor with her eyes fixed on her unconscious double. "Alex, you free Mr. Foster and get him back downtown. I'll take our friend here to the hospital."

"OK, Supergirl," a slim chestnut haired woman said. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Supergirl picked up her double.

Adam Foster called, "Supergirl."

Without turning, the Girl of Steel said, "Yes."

"Thanks for distracting Bizarro, but how did you find me?"

"Keep it to yourself, Mr. Foster, but I hear heartbeats. I'd heard Bizarro's heartbeat before, so I knew what to listen for."

"Nice. I'll keep my mouth shut. Thanks again."

Supergirl nodded and took off as the woman named Alex came over to Adam and cut him free.

"Thank you," he said. "Who are you?"

"Alexandra Danvers, FBI," the woman, said showing her credential. "Your mother saw what happened. She has a way to reach Supergirl, who in turn knows how to reach us. We were rolling in under five minutes from the time you were taken."

"But why the FBI?"

"Kidnapping is a federal crime. Where can I take you?"

"CatCo Plaza," Adam replied.

"We'll take your statement on the way. Please come with me, Mr. Foster."

"If you don't mind me being rude as we walk, I need to call my Mom."

"Go ahead."

Adam made the call.

"Adam, thank God you're safe."

He explained what had happened. "Don't forget to thank Supergirl and the FBI too."

"No, Adam, I won't forget to do that. Where are you now?"

"Getting into an FBI SUV with the tactical team. They'll drop me at CatCo Plaza. I'll be there in around . . . " he raised an eyebrow, as the SUV pulled out of the plant lot onto the street.

"Twenty minutes." Agent Danvers replied.

"Around twenty minutes, Agent Danvers says."

"Agent Danvers? May I speak to her please?"

Adam put his hand over the phone and turned to Alex in the next seat. "My Mom wants to talk to you."

Alex took the phone.

"Danvers."

"Agent Danvers, are you the agent in charge on your team?"

"Yes."

"I'm very grateful to you. Please pass on my thanks to the rest of your team. Also, when you get to CatCo, please drop Adam off at the parking garage elevators. I'll be there to meet him."

"I'll do that."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The moment Adam Foster left the SUV, his mother had one of her security people stand at each end of the SUV while she hugged her son.

"Which of you people is Agent Danvers?" she asked.

"I am," Alex replied.

Cat Grant cocked her head as she recognized a familiar face. "Well, well, well, Agent Scully, we meet again. You and I had better have a talk. If I publish what I know about tonight's events without talking to you, I'll probably upset a lot of applecarts. And I suspect that it would not be wise to do that. Unless I have to."

Alex Danvers recognized the inevitable, nodded and got out, "Stimson, back to headquarters. Tell the boss, I'll be there as fast as I can." The SUV pulled away, and Cat said. "Let's go to my office."

When they arrived, Cat gestured for Alex and Adam to take seats. She herself sat next to Adam. She began with an innocuous question.

"My former assistant, Kara Danvers, told me once she has a sister named Alex. Is that you?"

"Yes. What do you know that you think could upset applecarts?"

"For one thing, Bizarro only turned up two days ago and you have something that can knock her out already? Can whatever you have also knock out Supergirl?"

"Deep background conversation?" Alex queried.

"Yes," Cat nodded.

It hasn't been tried on her yet, but for various reasons, I doubt it will work."

"Are you some kind of biological expert?"

"I have a double Ph.D. in biochemistry and biomedical engineering. And while I didn't get the idea for this tool, I did engineer it."

"What's a double Ph.D. in biochemistry and biomedical engineering doing running around as an FBI agent?"

"I was recruited in college by an insider at a time when law enforcement seemed romantic."

"And the National City FBI Office says you're not one of them, but they know of you. And they're scared of you. Or maybe they're scared that I found out about you. Which is it?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know John Boyce?"

"The Special Agent in Charge of the National City office?" Alex replied.

Cat nodded.

"We've met."

"After we talked, I called John to congratulate him and commend you. He dropped the phone when I mentioned your name. When he picked it up, he said that you were assigned to a special team that wasn't under his authority and he didn't know any more to tell me. John and I were good friends in Metropolis years ago. He's as courageous as any man alive, but I know what his voice sounds like when he feels put on the spot. But getting back to a previous point, this Bizarro knock out drug? Was it a knock off of something you have that can knock out Supergirl? No, don't answer that Agent Danvers. And finally, Supergirl didn't take Bizarro to any hospital in National City. Where did she go? You see why I think I could upset some applecarts?"

"Adam, you're here! James told me you were kidnapped by Bizarro. What happened? Alex, what are you doing here?"

A voice from the newsroom turned their heads.

Kara Danvers was walking into Cat's office, trailed by James Olsen.

Everyone stared at her.

"I asked James to drive me in when he called me with the news."

Adam replied to Kara's questions. "Bizarro kidnapped me and your sister's FBI team, working with Supergirl, rescued me. Supergirl took Bizarro to a secret hospital somewhere. Your sister's here because my Mom wanted to talk to her."

Alex stood and turned to Cat Grant. "I'll give you this much. For now, you can publish your son's first two sentences and the details of the rescue which you can get from him. Publishing any more than that, does, as you noted, risk turning over some big applecarts, including jeopardizing successful prosecutions of at least two kidnapping cases. And not only will I let you know when you can publish more, I'll give Kara whatever can be published immediately within the next three hours."

"Can I have your number, Agent Danvers?"

"The National City FBI office can forward your calls. Come on, Kara, let's get you home."

"Do you want me to write this story, Miss Grant? After all, Supergirl is my beat."

"You are correct, Kara. Unless Adam wants the byline, this story is yours to write."

"I'm fine with telling my story to Kara," Adam put in.

"You can use the balcony," Cat said.

"Then I'll say goodnight, Kara."

"Night, Alex."

And Adam and Kara walked out on the balcony.

You've got twenty-five minutes," Cat Grant said as they sat down.

OOOOOOOOOO

Twenty minutes later, Kara emailed her story. Cat had asked James Olsen to wait to edit it.

A few moments later, James said, "Good story, Kara. I just changed a sentence or two to make them clearer."

"I'll doublecheck," said Cat as she reached for James's tablet.

A minute later, Cat nodded.

"James put this up on the website right now. Thank you, Kara. Good job."

James Olsen rose to his feet as Kara said, "James, can you ask Supergirl to drop by my place? I'll try to get some quotes from her for the afternoon edition."

"Sure thing, Kara," James replied without stopping as he left.

"Good night, James, Miss Grant. Good night Adam."

"Good night, Kara," the two Grants chorused.

A few moments later, as James came back into the office, Adam turned to his mother.

"Mom, I need a private meeting with Supergirl, as fast as possible. How do you set one up?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Midnight found Adam Foster waiting patiently on the CatCo roof until a voice came out of the darkness.

"Mr. Foster? My cousin tells me you have something I need to hear that isn't just a thank you."

Supergirl was hovering about fifteen feet up and twenty feet away. Her voice was pleasant but cool.

"Well there are a couple of thank you's that I do need to mention, but that's not the main reason why I asked for this meeting. That has to do with some things that happened two nights ago, yesterday and earlier this evening. By the way, I don't want to be discourteous; you're welcome to come down to the roof. I'm afraid I'll get a headache if I have to look up at you for any length of time."

Supergirl touched down.

"Thank you. And thank you for coming." Adam said.

"You're welcome."

"What can you tell me about that poor girl who tried to kidnap me? She's clearly not fit to stand trial, even if she could be restrained."

"Your mother said you've worked on a newspaper, Mr. Foster. Do you know the term deep background?"

"Yes _._ I'll keep this conversation absolutely to myself."

"OK, then, just between us, there are ways of restraining people with my powers, but you're right: that girl is not mentally competent to stand trial. She's now under guard in a special government facility. Unlike me, she's human, not Kryptonian. She was kidnapped and experimented on by some genius who figured out a way to give her my powers. They doctors at the hospital are hoping to be able to figure out how it was done and take away her powers. But until they succeed, and even if they do succeed, she'll need specialized institutional care for the rest of her life. And she'll get it."

"Thanks for letting me know. I was worried. And we might as well get the rest of the thank you's out of the way at this point too. So thanks for rescuing me, Supergirl, and let me also say thank you for saving my Mom's life when Livewire attacked. I owe you, no, we owe you, a very great deal. If I can ever do anything to help you, you have only to ask."

"You're welcome. Your message said there are some things I need to know."

"Yes, it did," Adam Foster paused, "And you'll want to be certain that this does not get overheard by anybody. Is there any possible way we could be heard, standing here?"

Supergirl looked around. "With the elevator housing between us and the Bank of America Tower, there's no building with a direct line of sight to us and I don't see anybody with a directional mike pointed our way. There are no drones in the sky, you don't have a bug on you and I don't either. So I think we're good, but to make doubly sure we can't be heard . . ."

The Girl of Steel came to Adam Foster's side.

" . . . you can murmur into my ear if you like."

Adam followed her suggestion. "What I need to tell you is two things. The first one is this: you've got a scar on your forehead near your left eyebrow. It comes and it goes. Two nights ago, when we saw the film of your cable car rescue we were able to distinguish the real Supergirl from the fake because of that scar. And I've also seen somebody else with that scar recently. Specifically, last night, when that somebody broke up with me. And now, I know the reasons why she did it."

He felt Supergirl stiffen by his side.

"Reasons?"

"Yes, reasons. She was trying to keep me safe and her night job to herself. And while we were flying to the warehouse tonight, I asked Bizarro why she had kidnapped me. Her reply was three words: 'You date Supergirl.' So unless you've ever been to Opal City incognito as a brunette . . ."

"I haven't," s shaken Supergirl replied.

"Don't worry," Adam continued, "I meant what I said about owing you. And I know one way I can make a down payment on my various debts. So you don't have to say anything more."

"Thank you, Mr. Foster. But may I tell you a story?"

"Sure, and it's Adam."

"Please be Mr. Foster to me. Being Supergirl's friend is a luxury you might not be able to afford."

"That's a little strong, isn't it?"

"Let me tell you my story and you can decide for yourself. I was thirteen years old when my parents sent me away from Krypton. They also sent my cousin in a separate spacecraft which was launched first and came directly to earth. Mine, launched five minutes later, was caught in the blast wave when Krypton exploded. The blast sent my ship off course and me into suspended animation. That lasted about 25 years until something reactivated my ship and sent it to earth. But in the meantime, my cousin, who you know as Superman, had arrived and grown up here. When I arrived, he spotted my ship as it hit the atmosphere, met me, and arranged for me to be fostered by an American family who gave me as normal a life as possible, away from the spotlight. And in the years since I arrived, only seven people in all the world have been told what you know about me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because it's the necessary background to what I'll tell you now. Knowing Supergirl's earth identity is a very dangerous bit of knowledge for those that have it. Having that bit of knowledge is what led directly to the death of one of those seven people. So be very careful, Mr. Foster. Not everybody on this planet likes me. Some criminals will attack me because they hate me because I stopped them, like Livewire. They'll also attack people close to me to hurt me. Did you read about Reactron attacking me?"

Adam nodded.

"The reason he did that was because he wanted to hurt Superman. I also have to deal with otherwise decent people who attack me because they fear me. Included in that number is the man behind Bizarro. It's why he told Bizarro to kidnap you. You see, he found out who I am, too."

Adam Foster looked at her. His face was set. "Well, I have a bone to pick with that guy. Kidnapping my date, or me either, for that matter, is not on the free list. Who is he, and what can I do to help put him in jail?"

"I can't think of anything you can do to help. It's not your fight."

"You're wrong."

For the second time, Adam Foster sounded like his mother.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you think I can walk away from this safely, just like that? If Bizarro targeted me on orders from the guy behind her, I'm in this whether you like it or not. He might try targeting me again to get to you."

Supergirl blinked. Adam Foster's casual style kept leading her to underestimate him. "You're right. Anything else?"

"I've got a couple more questions. First, is my Mom among those seven people you mentioned?"

"No."

"Did she guess? Is that why Kara quit?"

"Not exactly. Your Mom thought Ms. Danvers was me, yes, but I was able to prove to her that she was wrong."

"How did you do that?"

"It's not entirely my story to tell, but I had some effective help. But to make sure Miss Grant didn't make that same mistake again, Ms. Danvers needed to move to a job that was largely out of her sight. As for why your Mom wasn't told about me, the short answer is this: your stepbrother needs his mother. So there's no way I'm taking any avoidable risk that he might lose her. Which means there's no way I'll risk your Mom finding out my earthly identity if I can possibly help it."

"I get it," a thoughtful Adam replied.

"And your other question?"

"What about Kara Danvers?"

"What about her?"

"I got to know Kara a little bit before I found out about her night job. And while you may be the Girl of Steel, it's easy to see that Kara Danvers has the heart of a child."

Supergirl froze, stunned. "What makes you say that?"

"'Heart speaks to heart.' I know what it's like to go through a major family disaster. I've heard Kara talk and I've seen Kara's face when she talks about her painful memories. And because I have some empathy, I've felt something of what she feels. And the stress from her night job must be very hard to take. I wonder how much longer she can do it alone without breaking down. I think Kara needs, and I quote her, 'a great guy:' someone who cares for her, who knows her secret and will back her every inch of the way. Thanks to the workings of the universe, I have all those qualifications. Maybe the universe is sending us a message. But even if Kara says no, I'll still keep my mouth shut."

"Kara will have to think about that very carefully," Supergirl replied. "For one thing, it would carry an avoidable risk of your Mom finding out."

"I understand. Mind you, we may not be together long enough for that risk to be significant."

"That's true enough. But you don't think it's likely, do you?"

"I hope Kara and I stay together long enough to have to face that problem, yes. And I think there's a good chance we will. And I think we can solve it. If we give ourselves a chance. But that's a long-term issue. The short-term question I have is more important."

"Oh? What's that?"

"Now that Bizarro is out of the picture, can I take Kara out for dinner tomorrow night?"

Supergirl smiled. "You have all your mother's chutzpah."

"That's what Dad tells me. Often," he grinned.

"He's right."

"You didn't answer my question," Adam pressed.

Supergirl looked at him, saw the kindness and care in his eyes and her decision made itself.

"You'd better ask Kara that question. But I wouldn't be surprised if she says yes."

"I'll call her tomorrow morning."

"I think she'd like that. Good night, Adam."

"Don't you think I'd better be Mr. Foster when you're Supergirl and vice versa? It might help keep us on track in the long run."

Supergirl thought back over the last few minutes and how Adam had followed her lead in distinguishing between her two personas. Once again, his thoughtfulness and care made an impact. "That's a good thought, Mr. Foster. I won't say good night because I suspect that Kara Danvers is still up. If you call her in five minutes or so, you can ask her about tomorrow yourself."

"Good advice. Thanks. Bye for now."

"Goodbye."

And suddenly Adam Foster was the only one on the CatCo roof.


End file.
